The Wilton White 4th grade football team won its third straight game with a convincing 33 – 14 victory on the road against Darien’s 4th grade White team.
Wilton’s defense opened the game forcing Darien into a three and out after hard-nosed tackles from defensive lineman Brian Cipri and defensive ends Austin Cameron and Quinn Wiseman. It didn’t take long for Wilton’s offense to strike as running back Sean Sullivan found the end zone through a seam created by stout blocking from Jack Tinnen and Ryan Siegel. Sullivan’s TD was followed by a successful 2 point conversion by fullback Michael Coffey that put the young Warriors up 8 – 0. Wilton’s defense showed it meant business when on Darien’s second possession Cameron forced a fumble that Blake Pagano-Walley recovered. A beautiful pass and catch from quarterback Everett Andersen to receiver Ryan Sorbo set up a first and goal. Fullback Coffey followed a smashing block from Charlie Hastings and finished the job with a punishing touchdown up the middle to make the score 14 – 0 (videolink: http://youtu.be/NxnsB-cVKNk ).
Darien knew it was in for a long day when Wilton’s Brendan and Connor Quinn, along with Peter Groves and Ryan MacDougall combined on consecutive tackles to stall their drive. Defensive end Anthony Passaniti made some nice plays containing Darien sweeps and both Brendan Sullivan and Will Haljun stepped up from safety to make key third down tackles.
Wilton’s offense opened the second quarter with running back Alex Smith following fantastic blocking from Matthew Murphy and Owen Pettit on a right side sweep 35 yards into the end zone to make the score 20 – 0 (videolink: http://youtu.be/zoDFdSIS2U4 ). Wilton gave up a late first half score to Darien to end the half at 20 – 6.
The third quarter opened with Sean Sullivan taking a direct snap, finding the huge hole created by lineman Matt Gulbin, breaking tackles and following Davis Cote’s down field block to ultimately end up with a 60 yard touchdown run to make the score 26 – 6. The rest of the game showcased Wilton’s swarming defense - especially Owen Pettit, Anthony Passaniti, Peter Groves, Brendan Quinn, Matthew Murphy, Connor Quinn, Ryan Siegel, Connor Healey, Michael Colbert, Brendan Sullivan, Will Haljun and Ryan MacDougall - whose quick reads and sure tackling shut down every Darien attempt to get back in the game.
Darien scored late in the third quarter to give them a glimmer of hope at 26 – 14, but Wilton’s Blake Pagano-Walley doused that flame with an incredible 40 yard touchdown run up the left side, following great blocks from Colbert and Healey, that sealed the victory for Wilton. Quarterback Andersen found Sorbo again with a nice pass for the PAT, making the final score 33 – 14.
