This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/09/2016 12:00 AMThe East Haven football team improved its record to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in SCC Tier 3 with a 44-12 road thumping of Lyman Hall on Oct. 7. East Haven controlled the game on the ground by gaining a total of 490 rushing yards.
“[The Wing T offense] is designed around running the football and we used misdirection to find open running lanes for the guys,” Head Coach Melvin Wells said. “We had a couple of guys that don’t normally play that were playing and they did a really nice job. They followed their blocks and made the plays they needed to make. McClay Marshall carried most of the load, but they all had an opportunity to find the end zone, which was nice.”
Marshall carried the ball 21 times for 294 yards and found the end zone three times in the lopsided victory. Marshall’s biggest run came in the third quarter, when he raced 93 yards to the house for a score that helped blow the game open.
“I thought our offensive line played extremely well,” Wells said. “McClay had a really good night with three touchdowns.”
Lyman Hall struck first when Kyle Bonnet scored on a 66-yard pass from Nick Santello. East Haven kicker Evan Damian then hammered home a 26-yard field goal to make it 6-3. Marshall followed with touchdown rushes of 11 and four yards to give the Yellowjackets a 16-6 lead heading into the half.
“After a week of not playing after suffering a [35-0 loss to Hand], it was huge in regards to building up confidence and getting the guys moving forward,” Wells said. “We started slow, down 6-3 in the first quarter and up 16-6 at the half. It started slow, but we rode it out. They did a nice job of focusing in on what they needed to do to finish the job.”
In the third quarter, Andrew Luzzi ran home a 7-yard score before Marshall had the big 93-yarder as East Haven began distancing itself from the Trojans (0-5, 0-3). Then in the fourth quarter, Nate Lastomirsky scored on a 45-yard run and Mike Manning plunged in from two yards out to put the game away. Manning finished with 95 yards on the ground, while Luzzi had 51 and Lastomirsky ran for 49 yards. Lastomirsky also went 4-of-7 for 60 yards in the passing game. Coach Wells said the way his team ran the ball proved huge in the blow out.
“Inside and off-tackle play was very big,” Wells said. “Most of our night was run between the tackles, so the offensive line did a really nice job of taking care of opening holes for the guys.”
Defensively, East Haven made 94 tackles with Niam Coward finishing with a team-high 14 and Damian adding 10. The Yellowjackets also had a huge advantage in the sack and turnover departments. Corey Waselik and Tim Seksinski each had two sacks, while Coward and Brandon Duryea both recorded one.
“We changed up or defense just a bit. Lyman does a nice job of running the football and works really hard at their passing game. The little bit of pressure we put on [Lyman Hall’s quarterback] took him off his rhythm and, when we did that, we gave ourselves a chance to make plays on the football,” Wells said. “They did some really good stuff and kept pressure on them, giving us an opportunity to get the ball in decent position, which helped us a great deal.”
Additionally on defense, Lastomirsky and Luis Torres each had an interception, plus Torres and Marshall both recovered a fumble.
“We took advantage of the opportunities we had,” Wells said. “When you have other opportunities, you don’t want to squander them. We took advantage of every opportunity we had. Everything Lyman Hall did, we capitalized on them to get those numbers up, which is nice.”
East Haven has a bye this week and then hosts SCC Tier 2 squad Hamden (1-4) on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. It’s a rematch from last season’s exciting contest that the Yellowjackets won in four overtimes.
From the Sidelines
East Haven’s two wins this season have come against Sheehan (35-27) and Lyman Hall (44-12).
The Yellowjackets have lost to Law (26-21) and Hand (35-0).
The six rushing touchdowns against Lyman Hall were the most for East Haven in a game this season.