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11/03/2019 11:00 PMThe East Haven football team took its second defeat of the season when the Yellowjackets lost to Cheshire by the score of 48-14 in a home game on Nov. 1. East Haven has a record of 5-2 as the team heads into its second bye week this year.
Head Scott Benoit said that the Yellowjackets were physically outmanned against Cheshire (6-1), a Class LL school that plays in SCC Tier 2. East Haven is a Class M program that competes in Tier 3 of the SCC.
“They’re an excellent team, and I would be surprised if they don’t make the LL playoffs,” Benoit said of Cheshire. “It was good to get back in the league and play a team we’re familiar with. I’d rather play a team in the SCC rather than [the non-conference] teams who we don’t have a connection to.”
The Rams got out to a quick lead by taking advantage of a few Yellowjackets’ mistakes. In the first quarter, Cheshire scored on a 15-yard touchdown run by Jake McAlinden and followed that up with a 3-yard TD from by Sean Cangiano to put East Haven in a 14-0 hole.
In the second quarter, quarterback Jason Shumilla connected with Nick DiDomizio on touchdown passes of 69 and 15 yards to increase Cheshire’s lead to 27-0.
On its next series, East Haven was forced to punt and the snap went over the head of the punter, giving Cheshire possession at the Yellowjackets’ 1-yard line. McAlinden plunged in for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 34-0.
East Haven got on the board right before the end of the half to cut the deficit to 34-6 at the break. With 10 seconds remaining, junior quarterback Trey Garea found senior captain Jake Marquardt for a 7-yard TD strike. Marquardt had four receptions, while Garea went 11-of-29 passing for 92 yards in the game. Junior Alex Duarte ran for a team-high 27 yards for the Yellowjackets, who struggled to move the ball against Cheshire.
“The 29 passes means we’re not running the ball well,” said Coach Benoit. “We’ve gone seasons without throwing 29 passes.”
McAlinden returned the opening kickoff of the second half for an 80-yard touchdown to give Cheshire a 41-6 lead. Later in the period, Colby Griffin ran in a 2-yard touchdown for a 48-6 advantage.
With less than a minute left in the game, senior Mike Castellano rushed for a 3-yard TD for East Haven. Castellano also took in the 2-point conversion for the final points of the night in a 48-14 Cheshire victory.
Coach Benoit said that the upcoming bye week is just what his team needs to get back on track before finishing the regular season with three SCC Tier 3 contests.
“I usually a not a big fan of the byes. I didn’t like that we had one after beating Guilford, because we were playing so well. However, this bye could not have come at a better time,” Benoit said. “We just played without [seniors Jack] Izzo and [Nathan] Santos, as well as a few others, so this week off is perfect.”
Benoit said that he plans to work on some technical and mental things with his athletes as the Easties gear up for the home stretch of their regular season.
“I think the first thing is we have to get them to believe we can win games. They didn’t have that belief versus New Fairfield [a 26-0 loss on Oct. 18] or Cheshire,” Benoit said. “We need to get straightened out on offense, because we’re in a major slump right now. I know it’s a cliché, but over the next week, we need to get back to basics and fundamentals.”
With the loss to Cheshire, East Haven dropped to the 13th spot in the Class M State Playoff rankings. The top eight squads qualify for the tournament.
“With three division games coming up, we’re in the same spot we were a year ago,” said Benoit. “If we can win all three, I think we have a good shot to get in.”
After the bye week, East Haven will travel to Wallingford to face Lyman Hall for an SCC Tier 3 matchup on Friday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. The Trojans come into the game with an overall record of 4-2 and are 2-1 in SCC Tier 3. East Haven is in first place in the Tier 3 standings with its record of 2-0 in divisional play.
For the rest of the regular season, the Yellowjackets are hosting Law Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. and will then play at Branford in the teams’ annual Thanksgiving game on Thursday, Nov. 28 at 10:30 a.m.