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Rams Get Second Win by Routing Cromwell-Portland

The Old Saybrook-Westbrook (OS-W) football squad picked up its second win of the season last week with a decisive 35-8 victory over Pequot Conference Sassacus Division rival Cromwell-Portland. The Rams put together a dominating effort against the Panthers to move to 2-5 on the season with a 2-2 record in the Sassacus.

Old Saybrook pounded the ball up the field with a smash mouth-style running game to take it to Cromwell-Portland. Rams’ Head Coach Mike Marone has built his team around his quarterback’s ability to run the option, and the Panthers knew that. Still, OS-W played big up front and exerted its will on the Panthers.

“We pretty much ran the whole game. We don’t throw that much, and that’s because we’re an option football team,” said Marone. “To me the biggest surprise of the game was the offensive line. They know that we don’t throw much, and they played us in the goal line defense every play. They didn’t have any safeties. Our linemen just won the battle up front.”

The Rams scored early and often to take Cromwell-Portland right out of the game. After the Panthers caught OS-W unawares with an opening onside kick that they recovered, the Rams put a stop to Cromwell-Portland’s offensive pushes. When the Rams regained possession of the ball, senior Cooper Pavlovich busted off a huge 70-yard run for a score. Pavlovich also kicked the extra-point attempt through the uprights to make it 7-0 in the first quarter.

“That run by Cooper Pavlovich was our first offensive play of the game. Cromwell opened up with an onside kick and they got it back. It was tough to give that up because we work on those things in practice, but that’s also why high school football is so much fun,” said Marone. “On top of his running, Cooper was five for five with his extra points, and he was booming the ball all day even with his punting. This was our seventh game of the season, and I feel that in all the games, the first thing anybody says when they see Cooper is that he is the best football player on the field. He can do it all.”

In the second quarter, senior captain Jack McDowell got the ball over the goal line with a 1-yard run after marching up the field. Pavlovich completed the PAT and moved the score to 14-0 before halftime.

In the third quarter, the Rams’ defense put some points on the board when senior Nikko Rowell secured an interception and ran the ball all the way back to the house for a pick-six. Pavlovich booted home the PAT to make it 21-0. Coach Marone thought that Rowell’s interception was a great moment for the usual lineman.

“Nikko Rowell is a defensive end and a tackle. We moved him back to the inside linebacker for one play, and that ball ricocheted off our other linebacker’s helmet right into Nikko’s arms,” said Marone. “He took off and ran with it. It was one play, and he got it. He also got a game ball at the end of the game.”

All in all, Marone believed the defense played an outstanding game holding the Panthers scoreless until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The biggest thing for Coach Marone was that Cromwell-Portland just couldn’t get any ground game going.

“Our defensive line along with Matt Murphy and Cooper Pavlovich. I really have to mention the whole defense. Cromwell really had difficulty running against us,” said Marone. “They were not able to run with ease against us. Our guys were making all of their tackles.”

After getting the ball into the end zone in the second, McDowell had to take some time on the sideline in the third to rest a minor injury before eventually returning, but that gave junior backup quarterback Anthony Glorioso some time under center. During that brief stint in the third, Glorioso managed a 9-yard run to extend the lead to 28-0 after Pavlovich’s PAT. That allowed the rest of the team to gently rib McDowell a bit who enjoyed seeing his understudy succeed. Then in the fourth quarter, McDowell hit Glorioso on a quick route for a 9-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-0.

“Jack’s teammates were teasing him that we didn’t need him anymore, but obviously we sink or swim with Jack. After that we had a pass play and with a long run. Then a couple of plays later Jack connected with Glorioso for a touchdown pass,” said Marone. “The kids got a chance to razz him a bit in good fun, and Jack and the other captains have done a great job as leaders with this team.”

McDowell has been part of a solid trio of senior captains this season that also includes Pavlovich and Will Bergeron. Unlike McDowell and Pavlovich, who are often front and center most of the time when it comes to scoring, Bergeron does a lot of the quiet work that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet.

“Will Bergeron doesn’t get a lot of credit, but he is such a work horse,” Marone said. “Offensively, Cooper gets a lot of scores running that ball like crazy. Well, Will is lead blocking for him on almost every play to help make it happen.”

Another player who does whatever it takes is Eddie Fernandes according to Marone. Marone will take a player like Fernandes on his team any day of the week.

“Cooper and Jack pretty much run the team, and they do a great job,” said Marone. “They are the studs on the team, but I think Eddie Fernandes is one of the best players I’ve coached in a long time.”

Next up for the Rams is a bye week. After that, Coach Marone and company will head to Deep River, where they will face off with Valley Regional-Old Lyme on Friday, Nov. 15. Coach Marone is looking forward to the matchup, and he hopes that his guys bring the same energy they did against the Panthers.

“We have a bye week, then we play Valley,” Marone said. “Valley is always Valley. If this team shows up against them, then we should be competitive.”

• The Old Saybrook-Westbrook football team’s roster includes senior captains Will Bergeron, Jack McDowell, and Cooper Pavlovich; seniors Eddie Fernandes, Jake Lindar, Justin Murphy, Matt Murphy, Nikko Rowell, Norman Root, and Sean Wilcox; juniors Anthony Glorioso, Nathan Lacey-Guigno, and Davonte Mitchell; sophomores Sam Baldi, Andrew Carter, Gregor McCarmack, Evan McIntyre, Charles McMahon, Aiden Murphy, Richard Potvin, and Casey Root; and freshmen Alexander Barros, Jacob Caffrey, Nicholas Chacha, Felipe Demoura, Max Diamond, Joey Donohue, Donyel Harvey, Vincent Naccarato, Brendan Novajosky, Jake Pavlovich, Carson Percival, Riley Peterson, John Witczak, and Zac Zundel.

• Head Coach Mike Marone’s coaching staff includes defensive coordinator Brendan Coan, along with Mike Spotts, Charlie Bertero, and volunteer Mike Pantages.

• For the rest of the season, the Rams are hosting Valley Regional-Old Lyme on Friday, Nov. 15; have a home game against Granby-Canton on Friday, Nov. 22; and are on the road to face Morgan on Thanksgiving morning on Thursday, Nov. 28.