Farmington’s Tyler McMahon (2) scored a touchdown and a field goal in Friday night’s CCC Tier III contest
Two weeks ago, the Farmington High football team dropped a disappointing three-point decision to Bristol Eastern – their third loss of the season.
A shot at the CIAC playoffs looked like a long shot. But the River Hawks focused on the task at hand rolled out some new wrinkles to their game.
A week ago, Farmington beat Bloomfield for the first time in team history in their third meeting. On Friday, the River Hawks used a stout defense and a clutch field goal from Tyler McMahon in the final two minutes to beat Middletown, 17-14 at George T. Bennett field.
The win gave Farmington their first victory over Middletown since 2011 and snapped a 10-game losing streak at the hand of the Dragons.
Beating a team with seven victories helped improve Farmington’s chances of qualifying for the CIAC Class L tournament for the first time since 2013. The River Hawks close out the regular season Thanksgiving Eve when hit the road to face undefeated Plainville (9-0). Beating a team with nine wins would help Farmington’s playoff hopes.
The win also allowed Simsbury (8-1, 6-1 Tier III) to clinch the CCC Tier III championship with their 39-28 win over E.O. Smith on Friday night. It is the first pennant for the Trojans since sharing the CCC Division I title in 2009 and their first sole championship since winning the CCC West title in 1994.
Farmington (6-3, 5-2 CCC Tier III) clinched their first winning campaign since 2018.
“It’s a big win for us. All week we’ve been harping on this game Farmington hasn’t beat Middletown since 2011,” said McMahon, who also scored a touchdown. “Going from Bloomfield we wanted to keep the momentum going and keep the momentum going into Plainville next week.”
Farmington head coach Chris Machol said his team was ready after a tough three-point loss to Bristol Eastern.
“We wanted to bounce back after a disappointing game a few weeks ago and we wanted to finish strong the last three games of the season and so far we’ve done that,” Machol said. “We have more work to do on Thanksgiving Eve.”
Farmington’s Tommy Zadrozny (21) ran for 42 yards on 16 carries in Friday night’s CCC Tier III contest.
Farmington jumped out to the early lead, marching 60 yards on six plays to score on the opening drive of the game with a one-yard touchdown run from McMahon with 8:42 left in the first quarter. The big play on the drive was a 40-yard scramble from QB Mason Kiniry that brought the ball to the Dragon 20-yard line.
McMahon hit the extra point for a 7-0 Farmington lead. The River Hawks led 7-0 at the break, thanks in part to two sacks and two tackles for a loss from the Farmington defense.
On its first possession of the third quarter, Middletown (7-2, 5-2 CCC Tier III) marched 565 yards on 10 plays to score a touchdown on a one-yard run from QB Matteo Fletcher. Brendan Smith had runs of 13 and 21 yards to spark the drive.
A successful two-point conversion run from Nick Cyril gave Middletown a 8-7 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
Farmington responded with an eight-play, 60-yard drive of their own with QB Mason Kiniry scoring from the two-yard line. The extra point from McMahon extended the Trojan lead to 14-8 with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
The big play on the drive was a 27-yard pass reception from Kiniry to Chris Huelin.
On its next drive, Middletown drove to the Farmington 18-yard line but a three-yard tackle for a loss and a five-yard sack of Fletcher stopped the drive. The Dragons turned the ball on downs with 10:41 left in the game.
Farmington ate up 9:01 of the fourth quarter on a 16 play, 81-yard drive that ended with McMahon hitting a 21-yard field goal to give Farmington a 17-8 lead with 1:40 left in the game.
To keep the drive alive, Farmington converted twice on third down and once on fourth down. One of the big plays on the drive was a 34-yard completion from Tommy Zadrozny to Charlie Osborne on a third down and two play on the Farmington 44-yard line.
Middletown scored on Mar’ion Wynn 55 pass from Fletcher with 1:12 left in the game but the two-point conversion pass failed.
Playoffs was the overriding driver for the River Hawks, Machol said.
“We’ve done the math but I never think you have to tell the kids why a game is important to win I don’t like to look ahead,” he said. “We’re playing the team we’re playing that week. The kids are focused and they knew last week the objective was Bloomfield. This week it was Middletown.”
FOOTBALL
Farmington 17, Middletown 14
At Farmington
Middletown (7-2) 0 0 8 6 — 14
Farmington (6-3) 7 0 7 3 — 17
First quarter
F: Tyler McMahon 1 run (McMahon kick), 8:42
Third quarter
M: Matteo Fletcher 1 run (Nick Cyril run), 5:50
F: Mason Kiniry 2 run (McMahon kick), 2:57
Fourth quarter
F: McMahon 21 FG, 1:40
M: Mar’ion Wynn 55 pass from Matteo Fletcher (pass failed), 1:23
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Farmington – Tommy Zadrozny 16-42, Tyler McMahon 15-24, Mason Kiniry 4-56, Charles Osborne 2-minus 2, Daniel Muyir 1-minus 1; Middletown – Matteo Fletcher 5-minus 5, Brendin Smith 10-50, Mar’ion Wynn 1-minus 3, Nick Cyril 8-24, Juan Albricoles 1-0
PASSING: Farmington – Mason Kiniry 7-12-0, 81; Tommy Zadrozny 1-1, 34; Middletown – Matteo Fletcher 11-14-0, 142
RECEIVING: Farmington – McMahon 1-15, Zadrozny 1-6, Osborne 2-36, Chris Huelin 3-48, Amari Shakir 1-9; Middletown – Smith 4-32, Mar’ion Wynn 2-58, Da’zhor Duggins 4-52
