Youth football: Wilton White seventh graders nip Fairfield

Wilton Youth Football teams had the following results from weekend action: Third grade Wilton Blue 20, Westport South 6 On a crisp, fall evening under the Friday Night Lights at Fujitani Field, Wilton Blue faced off against Westport South. Westport started with the ball and three plays later was forced to punt. On Wilton’s first offensive play of the game, Craig O’Neill scored a touchdown. Westport’s second possession was three and out. Wilton’s relentless defense, including Theo Satrazemis, Max Totten, Lincoln Jones, Curtis Jackson, Trevien Goldman, Josh Meltzer, Grant Stein and Will Byrnes, formed a solid wall that kept Westport down. On Wilton’s second possession, the Warriors managed to get a first down but was unable to advance the ball any further, and then punted. Westport’s third possession was another three and out. On Wilton’s third possession, the team marched down the field, with a long run by Jake Padilla. The drive was capped off with a beautiful touchdown run by Charlie Calabrese and a two-point conversion caught by Charlie Roy in the end zone. On its final possession of the first half, Westport was able to score a touchdown, but missed on the extra point. At the end of the first half, Wilton was ahead, 14-6. Wilton started with the ball in the second half and moved up the field with great runs and blocking by the offensive line of Marco Chila, Quint Furman, William McDonald, Philip Mouracade and Hunter Lishnoff, but unfortunately Westport intercepted the ball. Westport was unable to capitalize on the turnover and Wilton regained possession. Wilton controlled the ball for most of the fourth quarter. The Warriors drove down the field but on fourth and goal was unable to score, turning the ball over to Westport. On Westport’s next offensive play, Wilton’s defense, including Mason Behar and Evan Christianson, forced a fumble, recovered by Kieran Wiseman. Two plays later, Emma VanHeyst scored another Wilton touchdown. Westport’s final possession of the game ended with a game-ending interception by Blake Ongley. Wilton remained undefeated on the season at 5-0. Fifth grade Darien 16, Wilton White 14 Wilton White battled until the very end in rainy and windy conditions. Unfortunately the team came up just short in a 16-14 loss to Darien. The game highlighted the strength of the Wilton running game in the very wet conditions. Peter Reyes and Cole Stephenson both had significant runs for touchdowns. Ryan Smith, Patrick Heffernan, Owen Theoharides and Levi Kaplan added long runs of their own. Will Fischer, Charlie Caporrino, Jack Kelly, Conner Flanagan, Eli Meltzer and Jai Satsangi opened big holes for each of the backs to run through. Francesco Tomas added a booming extra-point kick following Cole’s touchdown run. Darien scored both touchdowns due to a short field as the wet ball made it tough to handle the ball properly. The defensive unit played tough all game led by the powerful frontline of Jason Costa, Quin Silva, Griffin Kovak, Dylan Long, Tyler Giannantoni and Aidan Shaw, which allowed Peter, Owen, Cole, Patrick and Levi to force plays away from their intended direction. Seventh grade Wilton White 8, Fairfield Blue 6 Wilton White once again found themselves in a battle to the final minute of the game, and for the second week in a row came out on top, improving to 4-1 on the season. Max Silva, typically a top receiver for Wilton, started his first game at quarterback this season while filling in for the injured Grant Masterson. Silva was forced to overcome not only a tough Fairfield defense, but also a driving rain. Silva made a number of key plays, including the most important of the game, a blocked extra point that sealed the victory with less than a minute left in the game. Silva had tons of help, especially from the tenacious defensive front of Jimmy Luce, Kieran O’Neill, Ryan Farrar, Cole Boniface, Ryan Keenan, Charlie Fisher and Tyler Hough, who stuffed the Fairfield offense time and time again. Although the score was tied 0-0 at half, Wilton appeared to score late in the first half after a 57-yard hookup between Silva and Eli Ackerman, and then a 17-yard run by Joe deGrasse. The touchdown was called back on a holding penalty. But deGrasse was hardly done for the day, as the running back and middle linebacker led the team in tackles, while also overpowering a Fairfield runner to cause a forced fumble and fumble recovery. On offense, Wilton took its first possession of the second half and quickly got on the board two plays later behind a 52-yard pass from Silva to deGrasse and then an 18-yard deGrasse touchdown run that was set up by a perfectly-executed trap block by Boniface, Andrew Pelicano and Luce. On defense, linebacker Wade Steffens and cornerbacks William Ryan and Ackerman, were key in limiting the Fairfield passing attack. Linebacker Ryan Jackson made a number of tackles in his first start for Wilton’s defense. Offensively, Chris Calderone, Ben Pond and Brennan MacGregor helped fill the void left by both Jackson Luther and Chris McCann being unable to suit up for the game. Lastly, punter O’Neill had a key 33-yard punt that pushed Fairfield back at a key point in the game.

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