Naugy wins Pinho Trophy

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NAUGATUCK — The final handoff last Friday night between former Woodland football player Jack Pinho and Naugatuck quarterback Jason Bradley was a fitting one. They stood at midfield as Pinho handed over the George Pinho Memorial Trophy.

The trophy, which commemorates the football rivalry between these two neighboring schools, honors former Naugatuck native and Woodland coach George Pinho, who passed away unexpectedly in 2013.

Woodland won the first George Pinho Memorial Trophy game last season. Naugatuck used a pinpoint offense to outgun the Hawks by a 58-35 margin last week to bring the trophy to the borough. The Greyhounds broke a streak of seven straight wins for Woodland in this 12-year rivalry — marking just the second time that Naugatuck held the upper hand against the Hawks on the gridiron.

The Greyhounds (5-1) earned the trophy in convincing fashion, but it was the Hawks who struck first.

Woodland (2-4) forced the ‘Hounds to punt on their initial possession as Coby Vaccarelli administered a bone-jarring hit on Jalen Datil.

It was game on.

Sean McAllen (167 yards rushing) took one 35 yards to the house to give the Hawks a 6-0 lead.

Naugatuck came right back with Bradley (9 of 17, 196 yards, four touchdowns) finding Bryan Coney for a 37-yard touchdown down the sidelines. After Antoine Sistrunk pounded in the two-point conversion Naugatuck held an 8-6 advantage.

“That first hit when Jalen went out really lit a fire under us,” Coney said. “We knew coming in here that it wasn’t going to be an easy game. No matter what the records are this is a big rivalry, like a heavyweight match.”

Woodland went right back to their workhorse.

McAllen got behind Will Flormann, Max McSperrin, Alex Varhol and Jake Laliberte and pushed his way into the end zone from 15 yards out. McAllen added the two points to open up a 14-8 lead for the Hawks.

The game was turning into a track meet as Naugatuck wasted little time answering.
Sistrunk (182 yards rushing, four touchdowns) found plenty of running room with Will Paul, Jack Reardon, Dave Kloc and Ben Rossi opening up the lanes. A 5-yard burst by Sistrunk tied the game at 14-14 heading into the second quarter.

“We had to step up big at the line of scrimmage and play like men and we did,” Reardon said. “I’m happy for my teammates, our school and especially the town of Naugatuck, who have come out to support us.”

The question was could Naugatuck show a little defensive presence — a point of contention that has been brought up numerous times this season. In back-to-back series the defense rose to the occasion.

Logan Bond, Socrates Ilunga and Paul Cavagnoulo began to penetrate at the point of attack allowing P.J. Murphy and Aaron Yourison to have at it. The defense forced Woodland to go three and out.

Bradley went to work and hit Sistrunk on a 19-yard scoring strike with Chris Quarles hauling in the two-point conversion. On the next series Bond recovered a Woodland fumble and three plays later Coney (four catches, four touchdowns) hauled in a 39-yard touchdown to open up a commanding 30-14 advantage.

Woodland was staggered, but not out.

Mike Kenney rallied the Hawks and scored from 6 yards out with less than a minute to go in the first half to make it a 30-22 game.

But the Hawks left just a few too many seconds on the clock for the quick-striking Greyhounds. Naugatuck used the final ticks to put it back in the end zone. Sistrunk broke the plane from 2 yards out to give Naugy a 36-22 lead at the break.

With the momentum at the half, Naugatuck coach Craig Bruno knew the Greyhounds’ work was far from finished.

“I told the guys at halftime, this team is not going away,” Bruno said. “They (Woodland) are a tough team and they gave us a fight the whole way. We grinded this one out.”

Woodland needed to stop the Greyhounds in the second half, but Bradley and company were not having it.

With the Hawks gearing up to try and slow down Sistrunk and Coney it was C.J Wall with a 17-yard blast and Quarles hauling in a long-gainer that kept the Naugatuck offense rolling.

Coney scored on a 19-yard pass and Sistrunk showed the field vision it takes going on a 45-yard scamper as Naugatuck opened up a 50-28 advantage going into the final quarter.

Bradley, who added for 104 yards rushing, and the ‘Hounds continued to move the chains and drain the clock in the fourth quarter. Coney hauled in his fourth touchdown reception and Dave Bobbie (41 yards) punched one in for the Hawks to complete the scoring.

“We knew that if we could come out here and put points on the board we could take time off the clock and keep the Naugatuck offense on the sidelines,” Woodland head coach Tim Phipps said. “I thought we did a god job doing that to start the game. These kids take a lot of pride and they are not going to give up and they left everything on the field.”

Phipps credited Naugatuck’s offense with cracking the Hawks defensive game plan.

“I thought our defensive coordinator came up with a good plan and I stand by that plan. But you have to give credit to a player like Jason Bradley. He is very good under pressure and has an excellent core of receivers and a phenomenal running back and they are a very hard team to defend against.”

Woodland (3-4) bounced back with a 50-14 win over Wilby (0-7) Thursday. Naugatuck (6-1) kept rolling with a 54-12 win over Crosby (3-4) Thursday.