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12/27/2016 11:00 PMEven though the North Haven football team only won four games this past fall, the Indians also won the heart of Head Coach Anthony Sagnella, who praised his players for never relenting throughout a challenging campaign.
After dominating the SCC Division II ranks for the last decade, North Haven was bumped up to Tier 1 when the conference realigned its divisions this year, resulting in a daunting schedule filled with top-notch opponents. North Haven went toe to toe with all of them and, despite dropping a series of narrow decisions, the Indians always picked themselves off the mat and got ready to battle their next adversary. North Haven’s persistence paid off with a Thanksgiving triumph versus Amity and Coach Sagnella said he appreciates how his team continued pushing forward until the final whistle sounded.
“Our guys played as hard as they could, they didn’t flinch or run from any challenge that was put in front of them, and they played their tails off. They were very resilient and they were competitors,” said Sagnella, whose squad finished 4-6. “The fact that there were four-year players who had given so much of themselves to the program, it was very difficult for them to surrender. It was just the way they were wired. They gave us their best every week.”
Sagnella felt his club showed the most gumption in a 35-34 loss to Shelton on Oct. 21. In their previous contest, the Indians had taken a 49-34 defeat against Notre Dame-West Haven in a game that saw North Haven lose the battle at the line of scrimmage. The Indians took that to heart and responded by rushing for 331 yards versus Shelton, coming just one point shy of beating a team that had won 27-straight games entering the matchup.
“Coming out of that game, there was talk in the media that the schedule was too big for us and or offensive style wasn’t going to be successful against these other schools, and our kids took that as a personal challenge,” Sagnella said. “We took the ball on our first two drives [against Shelton] and went down field on them and ran the ball well and it was very gratifying to see our kids react to that type of challenge.”
North Haven’s effort was led by four senior captains who all made a major impact in quarterback/tight end/linebacker Jack Steinman, tight end/linebacker Kyle Melillo, tailback/cornerback Tom Dodge, and fullback/safety Max Sullivan. Steinman threw for 1,104 yards with 10 touchdowns, while also proving a great blocker as a tight end. As a result, Steinman earned All-SCC and Levi Jackson All-Star honors at the tight end position and he was also named North Haven’s Most Valuable Player. Dodge was selected to the All-SCC, Levi Jackson, and Connecticut High School Coaches Association All-State Class L teams as a cornerback, but he also had a big year on offense by rushing for 782 yards and six touchdowns to go with three passing TDs and one receiving TD en route to 1,169 all-purpose yards.
“Out of everybody on this team, I don’t think anybody matured more than Jack Steinman. As productive as he was on the field, he was so valuable to our team during the week of practice with how he helped us manage all the preparations. He just really stepped to the plate with helping our program get ready every week and, on top of that, he was a physical blocker, a reliable receiver, and a tremendous pocket passer,” Sagnella said. “Tommy can pretty much do anything you ask him to do as a football player and that makes him valuable to our style of play, particularly on offense because he can run, throw, and catch. He was really invaluable.”
Meanwhile, Melillo reeled in 31 receptions for 611 yards with seven touchdowns and he also made 58 tackles on defense. Sullivan ran for 804 yards and eight TDs, in addition to making 65 tackles. He received the Indians’ Sportsmanship Award and was also the team’s Scholar Athlete.
“Kyle is also very versatile. He’s probably more at home as a wideout in our spread offense because he’s a natural receiver who runs great patterns and has outstanding hands, but he’s also tough enough to play tight end in our two-tight end attack,” said Sagnella. “Max started with a setback when he had major surgery to take his appendix out, so it took him a little while to get over that, but he was a spearhead of resiliency on our team. Max gutted it out, came back, and laid it on the line every week. He averaged [8.6] yards a carry, would have had over 1,000 yards if he didn’t have the surgery, and was a reliable defender.”
In terms of other accolades, senior two-way lineman Vinny Anastasio made the Levi Jackson Team on the defensive line, while senior wide receiver/cornerback Jake Tantorski was named the Indians’ Most Improved Player after working hard to start some games at corner at the end of the year.
North Haven’s senior class also featured two-way lineman/long snapper Carson Tebbetts, fellow two-way linemen Bryan Searles, Paul Murray, Dustin Byrnes, and Matt Rademacher; kicker/punter Colin Finkle, and running back/linebacker Craig Somma. Tebbetts started at center on the offensive line with Murray and Rademacher playing guard and Anastasio and junior Henry Pearson starting at the tackle spots. Junior blocking back Korbin Pecora, Melillo, and junior tight ends Jack Klapp and Steven Erbe also played a heavy hand in the Indians rushing for 2,663 yards with an average of 7.2 yards per carry, plus 32 touchdowns this season.
Linebackers Somma and Pecora also had 58 and 49 tackles, respectively, with Pecora grabbing three interceptions. Murray added 41 tackles on the defensive line. In his first year as the team’s kicker, Finkle went 41 of 45 on extra points and hit four field goals.
Junior linebacker Zach Orth made a team-high 76 tackles, while fellow junior Mark Montano had an excellent season on all ends of the gridiron for North Haven. Montano, a running back/safety, led the Indians with 1,245 all-purpose yards, rushing for 557 yards and 10 touchdowns to go with 266 yards and five TDs receiving, in addition to more than 400 yards as kick/punt returner. Montano also made 72 tackles and had three interceptions on defense.
From the Sidelines
North Haven’s victories this year came against Hamden (55-0), Foran (38-21), fellow SCC Tier 1 opponent Hand (33-7), and Amity (49-14) on Thanksgiving.
The Indians took defeats versus Cheshire (24-21), Notre Dame-West Haven (49-34), Shelton (35-34), West Haven (35-26), Xavier (42-10), and Fairfield Prep (43-42).
Anthony Sagnella completed his 20th season as North Haven’s head coach and he was assisted by Ray Ciarleglio (quarterbacks/safeties), Alex Velardi (defensive coordinator), Keith Wolkovitz (special teams coordinator/tight ends coach), Marc Russo (freshman/JV coach), Brian Woodford (strength and conditioning coordinator/quality control coach); and Mike Ricciardelli (running backs/cornerbacks); along with volunteers Anthony Giammattei (blocking backs/outside linebackers), Tom Reid (centers/nose guards), Danny Halloran (game films), Ken Santiago (game films), Steve Narracci (scout team coordinator/assistant to the head coach), Mike Proto (academic advisor/associate head coach), Chris Grillo (freshman assistant), Mark Zurlis (freshman assistant), Pete Harkins (assistant to the defensive coordinator), Deron Bayer (coordinator of scouting), and Andrew Savenelli (freshman assistant).