A heavenly Homecoming: Rams march past Cadets, 35-25

Written by Dave Stewart
Wednesday, 28 October 2009 16:20

Lou Marinelli has never been a big fan of Homecoming. It’s not that the long-time New Canaan football coach doesn’t appreciate the school spirit, fun and excitement, or the activities which surround the event.

It’s just that all the damn distractions aren’t exactly a winning formula for his Rams.

Well, Marinelli and all the Rams can now rest easy as New Canaan overcame a strong St. Joseph Cadets squad and rolled to a 35-25 victory on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Dunning Field.

Quarterback Turner Baty passed for 360 yards and three touchdowns, while receivers Cody Newton and Kevin Macari both topped 100 yards to lead the offense.

The victory kept New Canaan undefeated at 6-0, while St. Joseph suffered its first loss and is now 5-1. The Rams and Staples Wreckers, also 6-0, are the FCIAC’s lone remaining unbeaten teams.

Marinelli was pleased with the way his team performed in front of a huge crowd at Dunning.

“They came out really well and responded well under the circumstances,” the coach said. “It was a big game and I always get nervous at Homecoming anyway because there are so many things going on and so many distractions. I was very pleased with the way it all came together.

“Our kids certainly have met the challenge each time now. It’s the second undefeated team they’ve faced and they really executed and came together. We matured a lot in the process. The real good teams we’ve had in the past have done that and these kids are doing that now.”

New Canaan’s passing attack, led by Baty and Newton had another spectacular game. Baty has topped 350 yards passing in each of the last two games, while Newton had eight catches for 161 yards and a TD, giving him 35 receptions for 685 yards and four TDs this season.

Macari returned to the offense with a cast on his right hand to protect a broken thumb. The injury wasn’t a hindrance as Macari caught four passes for 122 yards and a TD.

New Canaan didn’t do as much running in the game, with 25 carries for 85 yards, but that was a matter of taking what the Cadets gave them.

“They’re actually very difficult to run on,” Marinelli said. “We had trouble running the football against them and if that’s the case, we’ll just let Turner drop back, do the reads and do what he does. He’s getting better and better and we have some kids who can catch the ball, so we just try to take advantage of whatever people are giving us. We’ve had some games where it’s 50-50 running and passing, but they were intent on stopping the run so we went to the air.”

Peter Park was the Rams’ leading rusher with six carries for 44 yards and a TD.

The New Canaan defense focused on slowing down St. Joe’s junior fullback Tyler Matakevich, which was not an easy task. Matakevich scored two of the Cadets’ three touchdowns and had 18 rushes for 70 yards, and six receptions for 63 yards.

“He’s a great football player — tough and he never came out,” Marinelli said. “He’s a big kid, a powerful runner and one of the better football players in the league. We had out hands full with him.”

St. Joe’s quarterback Joe Della Vecchia completed 15-of-25 passes for 136 yards and one touchdown, but New Canaan’s Ronnie Balzano and Jimmy Joe Granito each had interceptions.

The Rams scored five touchdowns in the game, but had an early score nullified when it was ruled that Baty had thrown a pass after crossing the line of scrimmage. The Rams were then stopped on downs at the Cadets’ 18-yard line.

Later in the first quarter, New Canaan managed to get on the board first, courtesy of the defense. Della Vecchia completed a short pass to Quinn Irwin, but Irwin was hit hard and fumbled the ball. Ram Jeff Sztorc picked up the ball and raced 18 yards to the end zone for a 6-0 lead.

St. Joseph came back with an 11-play, 63-yard drive which was capped by a 2-yard TD run from Matakevich to tie the score at 6-6.

Back on the sideline after that long drive, the Rams were cool and collected, according to Marinelli.

“It was very business-like. We’ve been down before and that’s going to happen,” the coach said. “But especially that early, no one was thinking here we go again. It was just let’s go back to work. It was more this is what they’re doing, this is how they’re aligning and this is what we need to. We just kept attacking them and kept playing.”

New Canaan responded to the Cadets’ TD by scoring on their next two possessions.

A 14-play, 81-yard drive ended with a 2-yard run from Park, followed by a 2-point conversion from Baty, and Baty then connected with Newton for a 44-yard TD. Collin Shapiro booted the extra point for a 21-6 lead with 2:32 remaining in the half.

St. Joe’s didn’t go to halftime quietly, however, as Della Vecchia hit Pat Mulligan for a 28-yard TD with 40 seconds on the clock, cutting the deficit to 21-12.

The third quarter was scoreless for nearly 10 minutes, but Baty struck for a pair of touchdown passes in the final two minutes to give the Rams some breathing room.

Baty first converted a 3rd-and-21 pass from the St. Joe’s 43-yard line and found Macari for a touchdown.

On the first play of the next drive, Granito picked off a Della Vecchia pass at the Cadets’ 35, and, four plays later, Baty tossed a 4-yard TD to Granito for a 35-12 lead.

St. Joe’s made some noise late in the fourth quarter as Matakevich scored on a 1-yard run with 3:09 remaining, and Mulligan returned a fumble 60 yards for a score with 2:11 to play.

But the Rams recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock to secure the victory.

New Canaan will now gear up for three straight road games as they play at Wilton (2-4), Greenwich (5-1) and Bridgeport Central (5-1) during the next three weeks.

“We have the meat of our schedule coming up,” Marinelli said. “You never know from one week to the next. In this league, you’ve got to be prepared.”