Staples Rallies To Defeat Greenwich 31-27 And Win FCIAC Championship

It may go down as the greatest game ever played in the 46-year history of the FCIAC championship.

Jack Massie tossed a 16-yard touchdown to Peter Bonenfant with 81 seconds remaining as Staples rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final seven minutes to stun Greenwich 31-27 Thursday morning in Westport.

"I saw the throw coming to me and I knew I had to haul it in and I did." said Bonenfant, who made the grab in the right corner of the end zone on a 2nd-and-8 play. "It's the best play that I have ever made."

The Wreckers, who capped an undefeated regular season at 9-0, continued their penchant for comebacks. Thursday marked the fourth time they have won a game this season when trailing at halftime and the second time they erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter.

"I can't describe how much heart this team has," said running back Nick Kelly, who was named the game's MVP after helping fuel the second half comeback. "We're never going to give up. We're always going to fight to the end."

Kelly picked up the slack for Joey Zelkowitz, who started but was not at 100 percent after suffering a shoulder separation against Fairfield Warde on Nov. 5. Kelly finished with 82 yards on 21 carries.

"It just says a heck of a lot about the character of this football team," Staples coach Marce Petroccio said of the Wreckers' latest comeback. "That starts with senior leadership. That starts with juniors believing that seniors say. It starts with coaches believing in what's being taught.

"We just have an uncanny ability to overcome adversity no matter what point of the game it is. I am so proud to be the head coach of this football team because they just don't quit."

Staples garnered its sixth FCIAC championship while Greenwich (8-2) was denied its 13th, by far the most in league history (New Canaan has seven). The loss also eliminated the Cardinals from the state playoffs.

For Greenwich coach Rich Albonizio, the outcome came down to two factors - an inability to efectively defend the pass and too many penalties.

The Cardinals appeared to be in control after taking a 27-17 lead on Shane Nastahowski's 18-yard run with 11:07 left in the contest, which followed the game's only turnover, an interception by Massie.

"We had a 10-point lead and we blew it," Albonizio said. "I'm just upset that in a great game like this that we had so many penalties. You can't win a game with that many penalties. If it was balanced off, it might have been okay. But you can't play with a lot of penalties and win."

In a back-and-forth affair, Greenwich put together touchdown drives of 13 and 15 plays in the first half to grab a 14-10 lead at the intermission. Nastahowski and quarterback Liam O'Neill scored on 1-yard runs for the Cardinals in the first half.

After stopping Greenwich on its first two possessions of the second half, the Wreckers grabbed a 17-14 lead on Massie's 14-yard TD pass to James Frusciante with 4:42 left in the third quarter.

The Cardinals needed just two plays to answer as the surprised the Wreckers with a flea flicker. Wide receover Joel Arroyo's  68-yard TD pass to Alex McMurray put Greenwich back ahead.

The Cardinals appeared to be in control after Nastahowski's TD made it a two-score game, but Massie, who is just a sophomore, engineered two TD drives to spark the Wreckers to victory.

"We've (come back) before so we know we can do it every single time," said Massie, who was 16-of-21 for 187 yards. "(The last two drives) were perfect. We couldn't do it any better."

After Nastahowski's score, the Wreckers put together a 13-play, 60-yard drive to pull within 27-24 on Kelly's 2-yard TD run with 7:08 remaining.

The Wreckers forced a three-and-out and took over again on their 40 with just under five minutes left. The winning drive was sustained when Massie completed a 12-yard pass to Kelly on 4th-and-6 from the 44.

Kelly, who had an 8-yard TD in the first half, ripped off gains of 5, 21 and 5 yards to move the ball to the Cardinals' 18. Two plays later, Massie found Bonenfant open in the end zone for the winning score.

"That kid (Bonenfant) is the greatest kid in the whole world on and off the field and what an appropriate way to end an awfully good day."

Greenwich, which won three more games than last season sub-par 5-5 campaign, got no deeper than its 40-yard before turning the ball over on downs. Massie took one knee to run out the clock.

"For us, this is not an improvement,"Albonizio said. "This is where we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be playing next week (in the state playoffs)."

Staples niw has only four days to prepare for Tuesday's Class LL quarterfinal game against FCIAC rival Ridgefield.