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Sports

Staples Football Rolls Into Class LL Finals

After spotting Newtown an early 14-point lead, Wreckers roar back to defeat the Nighthawks 44-20 and set up next week's state championship showdown against Xavier, the top-ranked team in the state

Once again, the Staples football team showed that it could take a punch.

Sophomore quaterback Jack Massie passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more as the Wreckers rallied from an early 14-point deficit to defeat Newtown 44-20 Saturday in the Class LL semifinals at Bunnell High School.

The win sets up a showdown against Xavier, the state's top-ranked team, in the Class LL finals, next weekend at UConn's Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The Falcons (12-0) routed Norwalk 55-14 Saturday for their 25th straight victory.

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"It's almost like we have to get challenged," Staples coach Marce Petroccio said. "Then we come back and starting playing again.  I don't know what's that all about, but I can tell you this - our kids just don't quit and they didn't quit today. They believe in each other and that's why we're 11-0."

Still, things didn't look promising early as the Nighthawks (9-3) stunned the Wreckers by scoring on their first two possessions behind the running of bruising fullback Louis Fenaroli, who finished with 119 yards and two TDs on 19 carries. Fenaroli's 17-yard TD scamper made it 14-0 midway through the first quarter.

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But Massie got the Wreckers going on their second possession with a 54-yard TD strike to James Frusciante, who finished with five receptions for 145 yards and two scores.

"(Massie) played a great game," Frusciante said. "He made huge throws at very big moments in the game."

The Wreckers responded with 30 straight points and outscored the Nighthawks 44-6 over the final 3 1/2 quarters. A crucial defensive stand in the second quarter also helped turn things around.

"We scheme each week for what we're going to do and they gave us the pass today more than the run, so that's what we took," said Massie, who will be starting in the state championship game as a 15-year-old.

He probably had his best game in a Staples uniform Saturday, completing 14 of 18 for 212 yards and three touchdowns.

"He's not your typical 15-year-old," Petroccio said. "Last year starting six games helped tremendously. He's a sophomore but he's not really playing like a sophomore."

Still, the game's turning point may have been when Lance Lonergan stopped Fenaroli on 4th-and-1 from the Wreckers' 14 with the Nighthawks looking to extend a 14-10 lead. Longergan also recovered a fumble that led to Robby Wolf's 22-yard field goal that pulled the Wreckers within four points.

"I felt like we had momentum there in first quarter," Newtown coach Steve George said. "The big swing in the game was when we didn't get that 4th-and-1. They went up top the next play and it was a 14-point swing."

Bolstered by the defensive stop, the Wreckers put together an eight-play, 85-yard drive that Massie capped with a 21-yard TD strike to Frusciante with 4:52 left in the half.

The score put Staples ahead and the Wreckers were never headed. With 33 seconds remaining in the second period, Massie tossed a 10-yard TD pass to Nick Kelly to make it 24-14 at the break.

"Today they took away a lot of the things we like to do and we just felt like we had to throw the ball and throw it on first down a little bit," Petroccio said. "The offensive line did a tremendous job with protection and I thought Jame Frusciante did a tremendous job. Jack Massie hang in there and we finally got Joey Zelkowitz going a little bit, too, in the end."

With 8:05 remaining in the third quarter, the Wreckers, who scored 17 points off four turnovers, converted Peter Bonenfant's interception into Massie's 1-yard TD run.

Newtown's finally stopped Staples' scoring blitz on Andrew Tarantino's 30-yard TD pass Justin Devellis with 5:25 left in the third period.

Trailing 30-20, the Nighthawks had a chance to climb back in the game, but Frusciante made a leaping grab between two defenders for an 18-yard gain on 4th-and-3 from the 19. Massie plowed in on the next play to with 1:48 left in the third to essentially put to contest out of reach.

Staples capped the scoring on Zelkowitz's 18-yard TD run with 5:21 remaining. He ended up lead the Wreckers in rushing with 121 yards on 10 carries, all of which came in the second half.

The Wreckers also held Fenaroli to 25 yards in the second half.

"I think when our linebackers and defensive linemen starting playing well everything changed and we were able to stop their run offense," Frusciante said.

The Wreckers, who will be in their second state championship game in three years, now begin preparing for a team that hasn't lost in two years.

Staples actually was the last team to beat Xavier, defeating the Falcons 31-28 in the Class LL semifinals in 2009 before falling to Cheshire 28-21 in overtime in the finals.

 

 

 

 

 

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