Fifth Grade Football: Wilton Blue 8 - Ridgefield Orange 6
Playing old school football on the grass and dirt at Middlebrook Field, the Wilton Blue fifth grade football team defeated a tough Ridgefield Orange squad 8-6 on Saturday to finish the regular season at 6-1.
The game was hard hitting from the first whistle as the Warrior offensive line of Jack DiRocco, Noah Levi, Dominick Polito, Jack Lenz, Jack Savarese, Zach Bargon and Erik Lebek took control on the opening drive. Kyle Hyzy, Ben Leung and Austin Andersen took turns lead blocking for each other, moving the ball to the Ridgefield 17 on seven running plays, highlighted by Hyzy’s 20 yard run with Andersen leading the way. On fourth and seven, Hyzy took a direct snap and floated a perfect pass in the end zone to a streaking R2 DiRocco for Wilton’s only score of the day. Jack DiRocco drilled the kick to make it 8-0.
Ridgefield answered with a long touchdown drive of their own, but R2 DiRocco intercepted the two point conversion attempt, which proved to be the turning point of the game.
Wilton’s defense took command in the second half as defensive linemen Hyzy, Dean Griffin, Savarese, Bracy Kuczo, Levi, Patrick Burke, Sean Soltis, Sean Millar and Ciaran Smith, and linebackers Anthony Andre, Oscar Telefaro and Oliver Shulman gave ground only grudgingly causing Ridgefield to fumble twice, although they kept possession, and allowing their opponents to advance no further than Wilton’s 40 yard line.
On offense the Warriors ground out yards behind good blocking by Dante Stella, Camilo Galeano and Cole Snyder, but one drive ended with a fumble at the Ridgefield 18 and another drive late in the game stalled forcing Wilton to punt.
Ridgefield took over at the Wilton 21 with less than two minutes to play but the Warrior defense was up to the task. Jack Savarese made a huge stop for a seven yard loss and the defensive line sacked the quarterback deep in Ridgefield territory. A last gasp pass fell incomplete as the Warrior secondary of Jake Zeyher, R2 DiRocco and Connor Burke provided great coverage.
The Warriors will wait for the outcome of next weekend’s games to learn who their opponent will be in the first round of the playoffs, which will begin the weekend of October 27.
