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Sports

Late Rally Fall Short For Fairfield County All-Stars In Hall of Fame Football Classic

Fairfield loses, 16-13, for seventh defeat in last eight games in the series

Despite a valiant effort by Greenwich quarterback Mike Lefflbine, who was forced to play the entire game, the New Haven County All-Stars continued their dominance in the annual Hall of Fame Classic for graduating seniors.

A 20-yard touchdown run by Shelton's Ray Pendagast early in the third quarter turned out to be the difference,  as New Haven held to defeat Fairfield Country, 16-13, Friday night at West Haven's Ken Strong Stadium.

New Haven has won seven of the last eight meetings to increase its lead in the series to 10-4.

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While it came up short in a bid to avenge last season's embarrassing 49-0 defeat at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield County may have at least regained a measure of pride after battling back from a 16-0 deficit.

"We felt a little disrespected," said Staples linebacker Jake Santora, one of former Wreckers to play in Friday's game. "We wanted people to know that Fairfield County is a lot better than that.

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"Tonight, I think we did the best we could. New Haven is great county, that's for sure. they were very physical. In the end, they just got us."

Other former Staples players to suit Friday were kicker Santiago Cuartas, offensive lineman Connor Bohling and running back Matt Kelly, who carried five times for 10 yards in the second half.

On Thursday night, the Fairfield County coaching staff received a text message from New Fairfield quarterback Bobby Wood, who indicated he wouldn't be able to play because of a hamstring injury.

That left Fairfield Country with only one signal-caller and meant Lefflbine would have to play every down, which rarely happens in an All-Star game.

"Right when I got here, (Fairfield) coach (Craig Bruno) surprised me," said Lefflbine, who tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Bridgeport Central's Criston Gill to pull Fairfield within 16-13 with 1:05 remaining in the game.  "He was like I got a surprise for you, you're going to play the whole game."

During his career at Greenwich, the most passes Lefflbine threw in a game was 17, a number he matched in the first half. He finished 15-of-35 for 229 yards.

"I think he needs to take a nice hot tub and take a couple days off because he's going to have some bruises," Santora said.

Battling the clock, Lefflbine completed 3-of-9 passes for 48 yards on the final drive, including a clutch 25-yard  completion to Greenwich teammate Camryn Ferrara on 4th-and-10 to keep Fairfield's hopes alive.

The completion gave Fairfield a 1st-and-goal at the nine and three players later, Gill made a leaping grab in the corner of the left end zone to make things interesting.

However, New Haven recovered on an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and took a pair of knees to run out the clock.

In the first half, Fairfield failed to take advantage of favorable field position, coming up empty on three possessions in New Haven territory.

Fairfield came out firing on the game's opening drives,  as completions of 46 yards to Masuk's Anthony Giaimo and 11 yards to Gill resulted in a first down at the 13-yard line.  But Cuartas' 28-yard field goal caromed off the right crossbar, and Fairfield's offense sputtered for the rest of the first half.

New Haven grabbed a 9-0 halftime lead on a 17-yard field goal by Adam Deer of (Guilford and a 45-yard touchdown pass from  Hamden's Jason Lassiter to Shelton's Paul Piccirillo.

When Pendagast scored with 8:51 left in the third quarter to make it 16-0, the game appeared appeared to be deteriorating into a repeat of last year.

But Fairfield finally got a semblance of a running game going after rushing for just 28 yards in the first half and pulled within 16-6 on a 1-yard TD run by Bethel's Pete Gallagher with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

"We could have done a little better in some parts, but I was still happy with our performance," Santora said.

Fairfield started its final drive with 3:03 remaining and Lefflbine drove the team 85 yards for a touchdown in just under two minutes.

 

 

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