CHESHIRE – The elements played into the hands – or should we say feet – of the Cheshire football team Friday night.
With the weekend’s impending Nor’easter producing gusting winds that negated either team’s passing game, the Rams simply did what they do best – run the ball.
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Cheshire reeled off 53 runs, scored the game’s first 24 points and simply played keep-away in a 38-6 Southern Connecticut Conference victory over Notre Dame-West Haven.
Trailing 24-6 at halftime, the Green Knights ran just 11 offensive plays in the second half (two coming at the end of the fourth quarter). Cheshire, meanwhile, ran the ball 34 times with the lead in the second half.
The Rams (3-0), ranked No. 7 in the GametimeCT Top 10 poll, threw the ball just once and enjoyed a 3-to-1 time of possession advantage.
Nothing exemplified how much Cheshire dominated on the ground all night than when the Rams started the fourth quarter with a constant 20-30 mph wind at its back, but didn’t throw the ball once.
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Instead, Cheshire went 95 yards on 17 plays (all runs) to chew up over 10 minutes of the fourth quarter and score the game’s final touchdown.
“You really can’t pass in this weather, but we aren’t a passing team; so, it works out,” said senior running back Noel Martinez, who led the way with 74 yards on 17 carries.
“We just ran the ball down their throats,” Martinez added.
Martinez was one of four different Rams to score a touchdown on the ground. In all, the Rams ran for 307 yards.
Martinez found the end zone from six yards out to cap off the Cheshire’s first second-half possession. His score finished off a nine play, 65-yard march into the wind that put Cheshire up 31-6 with 7:48 to play.
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After Martinez scored, Notre Dame (1-2) managed 19 total yards and two first downs (one via pass interference) on two possessions with the wind in the third quarter. It didn’t get the ball again until 1:58 remained in the game.
Cheshire had 11 first downs in the second half.
In control from the start after scoring 17 points in the game’s first eight minutes, Cheshire didn’t need to rely on any late-game drama to remain unbeaten.
The Rams won their first two games by a combined three points. Cheshire beat West Haven 15-13 with a late field goal, and then blocked a potential winning field goal last week to beat Glastonbury 21-20.
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Notre Dame fumbled on two of its first three possessions, and an 8-yard punt into the wind set up Cheshire’s second touchdown and put the Rams up 17-0.
Sophomore Olie Donroe scored his first varsity touchdown to give Cheshire a 7-0 lead five plays into the game following a Notre Dame fumble.
The Green Knights then faced 4th-and-21 on its next possession and punted into a gusty wind.
An 8-yard punt put Cheshire at the NDWH 37. While it didn’t score a TD, the Rams got a 38-yard field goal by Tim Reinard to make it 10-0.
Notre Dame then fumbled again on its third possession with 4:10 to play at its own 24, setting up Michael Chopek’s 1-yard TD run to make it 17-0.
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The Cheshire lead grew to 24-0 with 10:29 left in the half via a 22-yard touchdown scamper by sophomore quarterback Shane Jerome.
“(Tonight) goes back to our preparation and having a good week of practice,” Cheshire coach Don Drust said. “The kids understood what was in front of us; how we had to operate and things we had to fix.”
“We’ve certainly had our bumps along the way (in the first two weeks) and we weren’t perfect,” added Drust.
Player of the Game
Noel Martinez, Cheshire: The senior running back exemplified the Rams’ dominance on the ground, scoring to cap off Cheshire’s first drive of the second half and then spearheading the Rams’ 17-play, 95-yard clinching drive that ate up over 10 minutes of the fourth quarter.
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Quotable
“I’m proud of them understanding that we were happy to be 2-0, but we weren’t satisfied. There were a lot of things that had to be better. And that showed our maturity.” – Don Drust, Cheshire coach
Cheshire 38, Notre Dame-West Haven 6
NOTRE DAME 0 6 0 0 – 6
CHESHIRE 17 7 7 7 -38
C – Ollie Donroe 9 run (Tim Reinard kick)
C – Reinard 38 FG
C – Michael Chopak 1 run (Reinard kick)
C – Shane Jerome 22 run (Reinard kick)
NDWH – Michael Verdarame Jr 2 pass from Wyatt Verrillo (kick blocked)
C – Noel Martinez 1 run (Reinard kick)
C – Mark Rydzy 7 run (Reinard kick)
Team records: NDWH 1-2, Cheshire 3-0.
This article originally published at Cheshire football ran the ball 53 times to dominate Notre Dame-West Haven.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
