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NEW BRITAIN—When Bloomfield’s 4th and 10 pass from the 12-yard line was knocked down in the end zone with 18 seconds remaining, a lot of history was made on the Ansonia sideline.
Ansonia won the CIAC Class S championship 28-21 over Bloomfield for the school’s 21st state title as well as giving coach Tom Brockett his 7th state title and 193rd career win, both marks tying him with the late, legendary Ansonia coach Jack Hunt.
The 21 official CIAC titles are the most for any football program in the state since the playoffs began in 1976.
“I look at me and coach Hunt as one for the program. It’s unbelievable to even be mentioned in the same category as him,” Brockett said. “This is not my record, this is the program’s.”
Ansonia last won a state title in 2016. This was the seventh time Ansonia and Bloomfield played for a state championship. Ansonia now leads the series in championship games 4-3.
“The history we have against this team makes this so special. They are a great team and have great coaches,” Ansonia quarterback Chris Kaminski said. “To come out and win this means so much. It was 3-3 and for us to win round seven means everything to us and to our town.”
Kaminski scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns after the Chargers entered the final quarter down 21-14.
With 9:08 to play he broke free for a 20-yard score, cutting the lead to 21-20. Rather than going for the tie, Ansonia rolled the dice and went for two.
The move paid off as David Cassetti dove in to put Ansonia up 22-21.
After holding Bloomfield on downs, Ansonia moved the ball down to the 23 but was faced with a 4th and 3. Following a timeout, Kaminski kept the ball on a bootleg to the left, scampering 23 yards for the touchdown.
“I was the only coach on the headset that wanted to run it,” Brockett said. “I didn’t get a chance to tell (Kaminski) to fall down on the 1. We almost paid for that but it worked out.”
The Chargers 2-point try was unsuccessful, leaving the door open for Bloomfield.
Bloomfield got the ball down to the Ansonia 12-yard line but a 4th and 10 pass to the corner of the end zone was broken up with :18 left.
“I am so proud of these guys,” Bloomfield coach Ty Outlaw said. “I know it hurts right now but we will bounce back. We are a young team. We could not get out of deep in our own end a few times. We couldn’t figure it out to get out of there. Ansonia does such a great job and has such a great coach. We beat them the last two times so I know he was going to pull out all the stops this time.”
This was Bloomfield's fourth-consecutive trip to the Class S final, but the Warhawks haven't won it since a 25-7 victory over Haddam-Killingworth in 2018.
Ansonia got on the board on the opening drive, capped by a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Kaminski.
After a Bloomfield punt from their own end zone wound up at the 24, Ansonia quickly scored again on a 12-yard pass from running back David Cassetti to Paul Palmer.
Bloomfield answered with a 10-yard touchdown run by Davien Kerr with 1:38 left in the first quarter.
The Warhawks scored again at the start of the second quarter, this time with Kerr running in from 8 yards out. The extra point was blocked leaving it 14-13 Ansonia with 9:35 left in the half.
Bloomfield shocked Ansonia before the half, running a draw to Kerr which he broke 68 yards down to the 2-yard line with :03 left in the half.
As time expired at the half, Darrien Foster ran the ball in from 2-yards out and after a two-point conversion pass, Bloomfield led Ansonia 21-14 at the break.
Player of the Game
David Cassetti, Ansonia: The running back carried the load for the Chargers all game and it was his 2-point conversion putting them ahead in the fourth quarter.
Quotable
“This is amazing,” Cassetti said. “Since the offseason, we wanted Bloomfield and we knew if we were going to play them, we would come out on top. We wanted to go for the win after the touchdown and we all agreed. got no words.”