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12/01/2018 11:00 PMThe North Haven football team saw its 2018 campaign come to a close when the Indians took a 34-14 defeat at Windsor in the quarterfinals of the Class L State Playoffs on Nov. 27. Fifth-seeded North Haven, which had qualified for the playoffs by earning a dramatic 28-26 win versus Amity on the night before Thanksgiving, finished the year with an overall record of 8-3. No. 4 seed Windsor improved its record to 9-2 with the victory, after which the Warriors dropped a 49-7 contest at top-seeded Hand in the semifinal round of the Class L bracket.
North Haven and Windsor traded touchdowns throughout the first half of their quarterfinal matchup, but the Warriors scored the final three TDs of the night to come away with the win. Senior Noah Pastore and senior captain Shamus Meehan both rushed for 1-yard touchdowns for the Indians, who were locked in a 14-14 tie with Windsor with six minutes remaining in the opening half. The Warriors took the lead for good by scoring the go-ahead touchdown just a few minutes later to bring a 21-14 advantage into halftime.
Early in the second half, Windsor used an interception return for a touchdown to increase its lead to 27-14, which was how the score stood entering the fourth quarter. The Warriors hung on to their two-score advantage until they put the game away by scoring final TD in the closing minutes for the 34-14 victory.
“I thought it would be a fairly even matchup and a competitive game, and it was. We were down a touchdown at halftime and getting the ball, so I felt confident that we would be able to get back into the game. Unfortunately, we were never really able to find ourselves on offense in the second half, and Windsor’s defense was the primary reason for that,” Head Coach Anthony Sagnella said. “Our defense played well enough to give us a few chances to get back in the game. We blocked two punts in the game. We were just unable to take advantage of those things, and that was the difference. We fell into a hole and couldn’t get out of it.”
Windsor got on the board first when it hosted North Haven in the Class L quarterfinals. Quarterback Courtenay Jackson found Gabriel Bryan on a 32-yard touchdown pass to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead. The Indians promptly responded as senior captain returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Windsor 22-yard line to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Pastore. Sophomore Chase DiCarlo kicked the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.
Just a few minutes after that, Jackson threw another TD by connecting with Toryal Dale for a 22-yard strike to put Windsor up 14-7 with 6:16 to play in the first quarter. Later in the frame, North Haven’s offense put together a drive that culminated with a field goal try by DiCarlo, but the Indians fumbled the snap, and were unable to attempt the kick.
“That was probably our best drive of the night,” said Sagnella. “We were moving the ball downfield and controlling the line of scrimmage at that point.”
In the second quarter, North Haven recorded the first of its two blocked punts in the contest to put the offense in prime position to tie the game again. The Indians knotted it up at 14-14 following a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Meehan and another extra point from DiCarlo with 6:06 remaining until halftime. However, Windsor took back the kickoff to the North Haven 23-yard line and then used a 15-yard TD run from Chante Adger to take a 21-14 lead with 5:16 to go in the half. The Warriors maintained their seven-point edge heading into halftime.
On the Indians’ first drive of the second half, Jashaud Jenkins picked off a pass by Meehan and returned the interception for a 35-yard touchdown that increased Windsor’s lead to 27-14 just 49 seconds into the third quarter. The rest of the half took on a much different tone than the high-scoring first half as both teams’ defenses kept the other squad’s offense at bay. Finally, with 1:45 remaining in the contest, Jackson threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Bryan to solidify a 34-14 win for Windsor.
“Windsor beat us to the point of attack in the second half. The got off the blocks quickly, and we always seemed to be one guy away from a bigger gain,” Sagnella said. “As the half went on and we started to figure in the time, we got out of our game-plan. Windsor made us throw the football, which is not our strength, and it worked out for them.”
Despite the defeat, Coach Sagnella feels proud his team for what it achieved this fall. North Haven only returned a few players with varsity experience from last year’s squad, but the Indians reinforced that they are one of the top programs in the state by making the playoffs for the eighth time in the last 12 seasons.
“I’m proud of our senior class and the entire team. I knew we had a long way to go, but we made a lot of strides to become a competitive team, and be part of an elite group, which is what qualifying for a playoff berth does,” Sagnella said. “It puts you in an elite group of football teams in the state and, if you mentioned that to me back in August, it would have been a pipedream. I’m very proud of the kids for not only setting a high goal for themselves, but also for having the courage to work toward it and achieve it.”