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12/02/2018 11:00 PMFor the second time in program history, the Haddam-Killingworth football team has earned the right to play for a state title. The Cougars accomplished that milestone by posting a blowout victory over Bullard Havens Tech in the quarterfinal round of the Class S State Playoffs, followed by a dramatic overtime win against Stafford-East Windsor-Somers (S-EW-S) in the semifinals last week.
H-K, which has a record of 11-1 on the year, will face No. 4 seed Bloomfield (11-1) in the Class S state final on Saturday, Dec. 8. The Cougars’ only other state final appearance came in 1994, when the team took a 20-14 defeat versus Putnam in the Class S championship game.
Haddam-Killingworth entered its first postseason since 2011 as the No. 7 seed in the Class S State Playoffs. To start off the tournament, the Cougars claimed a 52-0 road victory over No. 2 seed Bullard Havens Tech in the quarterfinals at Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport on Nov. 27. The defeat marked the first loss of the year for Bullard Havens, which finished at 10-1.
Then on Dec. 2, the Cougars hit the road to face No. 3 seed S-EW-S in the Class S semis at Enfield High School. Haddam-Killingworth earned a 21-14 overtime victory to send the Cougars to their second state final in team history, while handing the Bulldogs (11-1) their only defeat of the season. The Cougars held a 14-0 lead, before S-EW-S rallied by scoring two touchdowns to force overtime. In the OT period, senior captain Tobey Callender scored on a 1-yard touchdown rush to give H-K a 21-14 lead, after which the Cougars’ defense stopped the Bulldogs to solidify the win.
“Everybody on this team worked so hard,” said Head Coach Mike Baklik. “This has been a season of firsts for us. This was the program’s first postseason playoff victory. This was the first regular season in which we won nine games. Now, it’s the first season ever with [11] wins, and we get to keep it going.”
H-K totaled 352 yards on the ground in its quarterfinal victory against Bullard Havens. Senior Zach Kauffman scored three touchdowns for the Cougars. Callender had two touchdowns, while senior Dalton Modehn and senior captain James Murphy scored one TD apiece.
H-K got on the board with a 15-yard touchdown run from Kauffman for a 7-0 lead with 6:52 to play in the first quarter. Modehn later ran for a 4-yard TD and then took in the 2-point conversion to put the Cougars up 15-0 with 3:27 remaining in the period.
Kauffman scored on a 4-yard touchdown run for H-K with 4:13 to go until halftime. After Callender ran in the 2-point try, H-K held a 23-0 advantage. Kauffman added one last TD before by break by scoring from 13 yards away with 53.5 seconds left in the half. Modehn’s 2-point conversion run made it 31-0 at intermission.
The Cougars kept attacking during the second half. Callender found the end zone on a 15-yard run to give H-K a 38-0 command with 9:06 to play in the third quarter. The Cougars entered the final frame with a 45-0 lead after Callender ran for a 4-yard score. H-K increased its lead to 52-0 on a 3-yard touchdown run from Murphy in the final minutes of the game as the Cougars capped off the shutout and sealed their trip to the semifinals.
Against S-EW-S, Kauffman scored on a 1-yard rush following a fumble by the Bulldogs to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead with 8:45 left in the first quarter. Neither side could muster any offense in the second quarter, and H-K went to the locker room still ahead by seven.
Kauffman scored on another 1-yard run to give the Cougars a 14-0 advantage with five minutes left in the third. Just a minute later, Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard with a 4-yatd TD rush to cut the Cougars’ lead to 14-7. S-EW-S knotted the score at 14-14 by connecting on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 18.9 seconds to go in the period.
The fourth quarter came and went with no scoring from either team, and so the contest went to overtime. In the extra session, Callender scored a touchdown from one yard out to put H-K up 21-14. The Bulldogs still had a chance to tie or even take the lead, but the Cougars’ defense made a stop on 4th-and-goal to lock up the historic victory, along with a berth in the Class S state final.