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12/08/2018 11:00 PMThe Hand football team capped off a dominant 2018 season by earning its second straight state title with a 54-14 victory versus Maloney in the championship game of the Class L State Playoffs on Dec. 8. The Tigers faced something that they hadn’t experienced the entire year—a deficit—when they played Maloney with the state title on the line. However, just like the team has done all season long, Hand attacked the challenge head-on and never looked back on its way to a convincing win.
Hand posted a regular-season record of 10-0 to solidify the top seed in the Class L State Playoffs this fall. Following a 56-0 win versus No. 8 seed Bunnell in the quarterfinals and a 49-7 victory over No. 4 Windsor in the semis, the Tigers took on No. 7 seed Maloney in the state final at Veteran’s Stadium in New Britain. Hand defended its Class L title and claimed its 13th state championship in program history by notching a 54-14 win against the Spartans. Head Coach Dave Mastroianni’s squad completed its perfect season with a record of 13-0.
Maloney (10-3) grabbed a quick 6-0 lead at the start of the game, before the Tigers scored 54 consecutive points to take a 48-point advantage into halftime. Hand has now posted 24 wins in a row dating back to last year.
“This means everything to win another title with guys that I’ve been playing with since 3rd grade. I feel this year we were closer than any other Hand team has been in the last 48 years,” senior co-captain Chris Bartosic said. “That is what made us successful in all three facets of the game. We had the trust in our coaches to have the right game-plan every week. Finishing my career with a 24-game winning streak is amazing, and there’s no better group to go back-to-back with.”
Junior quarterback Phoenix Billings completed five passes on 11 attempts for 79 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. He also ran for a TD. Junior Colin McCabe rushed the ball eight times for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while senior Brett Leckey had 15 carries for 89 yards. Hand totaled 354 yards of offense and held Maloney to just 204 yards, including a total of minus-11 on the ground.
Senior co-captain Julian Banerji said the Tigers bonded while dealing with some bumps in the road a few years back. He feels their camaraderie played a huge part in helping Hand reach the top of the state mountain for two straight campaigns.
“Being able to do it with this team made it even better, because we’ve been through all the lows of going 2-8, and we worked hard to get to where we are now,” said Banerji. “That allowed us to become so close to each other and become great friends. When you’re on the field with your friends, you’ll do anything for them, and that’s what this year was all about. Being able to win with [Coach Mastroianni] was so awesome for us, because we’ve been with him through some tough times, and being able to win these championships with him means a lot us.”
After Maloney recovered an onside kick to start the day, the Spartans struck first by converting a 42-yard touchdown pass on the opening play from scrimmage for a 6-0 lead just 10 seconds into the game. Facing their first deficit since last year’s state title game against Masuk, the Tigers wasted little time to respond. Hand scored just four plays later when McCabe raced 31 yards to the end zone to tie the game 1:32 into the afternoon. Hand took an 8-6 lead after junior Isaiah McNeilly ran for the 2-point conversion.
“We started with three really rough plays in a row with the onside kick, a penalty, and then the touchdown,” Coach Mastroianni said. “These kids have been so successful that they don’t know anything else. They didn’t know what it was like to fail and knew that failure wasn’t an option. They just forgot about those plays and got better.”
Following a Maloney punt, Hand began its next drive at the Spartans’ 29-yard line and then moved to the 14 on a pass interference call. Billings followed with a 14-yard touchdown run, and McNeilly took in another 2-point conversion to put the Tigers up 16-6 with 7:58 to play in the first quarter.
Senior Ian Butler reeled in an interception to give Hand good field position at the Spartans’ 34-yard line, but Hand wound up punting after having a touchdown pass on fourth down get called back due to a holding penalty. Maloney downed the punt by sophomore Conner Quinn at its 1-yard line, after which junior Ben Corniello recorded a safety to make it 18-6 with 5:51 left in the first.
Four plays after that, Hand scored again when Billings found Bartosic for a 6-yard TD pass with 4:34 to go in the opening frame. McNeilly’s third 2-point rush of the day extended the Tigers’ lead to 26-6. About three minutes later, Billings fired a 36-yard TD strike to senior Kevin Girardi to give Hand a 32-6 advantage after the first quarter.
Hand scored just 58 seconds into second quarter thanks to a 47-yard punt return to the house by Banerji and a 40-6 lead following another McNeilly 2-point conversion. McCabe later broke off a 46-yard touchdown rush, and McNeilly kicked the extra point to make it 47-6 with 7:43 remaining before halftime. Hand increased the lead to 54-6 when Billings tossed a 22-yard touchdown to junior Ethan Haberman with 4:10 to play in the first half.
The Tigers’ defense held Maloney scoreless until the Spartans scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 3:18 remaining in the game. Hand finished off the victory and walked off the field with an undefeated season and another state crown in its clutches.
“Last year, these guys got a taste, and our seniors were sophomores on that team that [went 2-8 in 2016]. We’ve gone 25-1 the last two years now, and it’s a credit to the kids,” said Coach Mastroianni. “They knew what they had to do in order to get back to another state title.”
Corniello recorded three sacks for Hand in the victory, while Banerji, McCabe, junior Lukas Wagner, and senior John Flanagan had one sack apiece. Corniello (5.5), McCabe (5.5), Flanagan (5), and McNeilly (4) led the team in tackles on the night.
With a 24-game win streak intact, Coach Mastroianni said there’s no question that the Tigers have completely turned the tide following their struggles from a couple of seasons ago.
“Winning 24 games straight shows that this program is all the way back. Those tough couple of years we have, we proved that those years were flashes in the pan, not these last two seasons. It’s been a great two years for the program, and we look to keep it consistent,” said Mastroianni. “Our team is full of personalities, and they are loose, but they don’t goof around. Just like with the first couple of plays in this game, they were loose, but then they didn’t get fazed. It all resulted in a phenomenal year.”
From the Sidelines
The Hand football team’s 2018 varsity roster features senior co-captains Chris Bartosic and Julian Banerji; seniors Will Cosgriff, Tom Ferrick, Chris Bader, Ian Butler, Kevin Girardi, Brett Leckey, John Flanagan, Ken Kaminsky, Matt Derken, Brandon Busca, and Macken McDonald; juniors Isaiah McNeilly, Jesse Lutz, Phoenix Billings, Kade Doverspike, Colin McCabe, Shane Reiner, Drew Anderson, Austin Doyle, Lukas Wagner, Jack Hughes, Joe Sandora, Tyler Tarantino, Ben Corniello, and Ethan Haberman; sophomores Will Flanagan, Ethan Maus, Darrell Brake, Shaun Henneberry, Mike Kelly, Mike Roche, Rocky Mayer, Carter Ganino, Ryan Bordiere, Sander Coscia, Cyrus Farqui, Aidan McCabe, Will Ketterer, Jake Daignault, Tom Bambrick, Ryan Stolpe, Hayden Pavlovic, Conner Quinn, and Carson Dempsey; and freshmen Kevin Nizolek, and Ethan O’Brien.
Dave Mastroianni finished his second year as Hand’s head coach and also served as the team’s offensive coordinator. Mastroianni’s assistant coaches were defensive coordinator Paul Philpott, running backs/cornerbacks and strength coach Mike Davis, halfbacks/outside linebackers coach Mike DeVito, inside linebackers coach/assistant defensive coordinator Dan Ives, offensive line coach Tony Catapano, assistant offensive line coach Scott Nizolek, and quarterbacks coach Mike Ferrialo, along with fellow assistant coaches Jack Callaghan, Don Giles, and John Sagnelli.
Hand went 10-0 in the regular season by posting wins over Hillhouse (43-6), New Fairfield (35-6), Hamden (52-6), Harding (51-12), West Haven (47-6), Foran (42-0), Law (68-0), Cheshire (49-14), Cross (50-14), and Guilford (57-21). The Tigers outscored their opponents by a whopping margin of 494-85 for the regular season.
Hand had previously made 18 state final appearances, winning 12 state titles. The Tigers won the Class M final in 1976 by defeating St. Paul Catholic 29-0, took the 1977 Class M title by beating Berlin 20-16, lost 14-7 against Seymour in the 1980 M final, took a 14-7 defeat versus Killingly in the 1981 Class M-II title game, defeated East Hartford 28-0 to win the 1982 Class M-II crown, lost 14-12 against East Catholic in the 1983 Class M-I title bout, and beat Wilton 14-7 to take the 1984 Class M-I crown. The Tigers also defeated Darien 38-34 for the 1989 Class MM title, lost 35-14 against New Canaan in 1993 Class M final, dropped a 28-24 decision to Foran in 1994 in the Class M final, doubled up Staples 14-7 in 1997 to claim the Class L title, shut out Ledyard 28-0 to win the 2003 Class M crown, beat Brookfield 35-6 in the 2004 Class M championship, defeated Hillhouse 34-0 to win the Class M crown in 2005, lost to New Canaan 34-30 for the Class MM final in 2007, beat New Canaan 34-10 to take 2011 Class L title, defeated Windsor 23-6 to win the Class L crown in 2012, and then dispatched Masuk by a 35-21 score in last year’s Class L state final.