Hawks pick off Wildcats

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BEACON FALLS — The Woodland Hawks made it six straight over neighboring rival Seymour with a convincing 41-14 win Nov. 25.

The annual Thanksgiving eve was moved up a day with an impending winter storm blowing in across the state. On this night it was the Hawks (4-7) who blew away the Wildcats (7-4), erasing the memory of a four tough losses by a combined 11 points in the process.

“We had a tough season,” Woodland head coach Tim Phipps said. “But to come in here and win the Thanksgiving game and finish this way is very gratifying and I’m so happy for the kids to go out with a win.”

Woodland marched down the field on its first possession of the game for a 13-play, 6 minute drive that ended with a Mike Kenney 3-yard touchdown pass to Sean McAllen. Lauren Charette booted the extra point and the Hawks took a 7-0 lead.

It didn’t take long for Seymour to answer.

On the ensuing kickoff Chris Abate found a seam and returned it 75 yards for the touchdown. Chase Desautels tacked on the extra point and the game was tied 7-7 with 1:17 to go in the first quarter.

Both defenses stepped up after that point. The first down marker hardly moved for the remainder of the first half as the punting units were kept busy.

With 1:38 to go in the half Seymour finally started to move the ball deep into Woodland territory. On a first-and-10 from the Hawks’ 14-yard line Seymour quarterback Jaylen Kelley dropped for what appeared to be the final play of the half.

McAllen got in front of the intended receiver to make the interception with nothing but daylight in front of him. As he streaked down the field with the seconds ticking off the clock the Woodland sidelines exploded with cheers. Eighty-six yards later the Hawks took a 13-7 lead into the half and changed the complexion of the game.

Armed with a 13-7 advantage Woodland came out from the locker room fired up after halftime. On the second possession Kenney (5-of-7, 57 yards, one touchdown) fired a 24-yard pass to Guy Massimo to put Seymour on notice. McAllen (20 carries, 130 yards) found a hole and scampered 35 yards into the end zone. With 5:34 to go in the third quarter Woodland’s lead stood at 20-7.

Klley (11-of-16, 145 yards) guided Seymour back into the Hawks’ end of the field before Coby Vaccarelli and the defense closed the door a little tighter.

Vaccarelli hauled in an interception and raced 85 yards up the field for his second pick-six in the last two games. Charette made the lead 27-7.

“We wanted this game so bad for our seniors,” Vaccarelli said. “We went through a tough stretch and saw a few games get away from us but that was not going to happen in our last game of the season. We came out ready to play a full 48 minutes and I’m so happy for our seniors.”

The defense struck again when Dave Bobbie recovered a Seymour fumble at midfield as the third quarter was coming to a close.

McAllen went on to score his fourth touchdown of the game on an 11-yard blast to open a 34-7 advantage with 5:23 left in the game and the celebration on the Hawks sideline had begun.

“Our line has done a tremendous job all year,” Kenney said. “We lost a few games by a couple of points but it was real nice to get this one and go out with a victory. It was awesome to be playing at home on Thanksgiving and to go out like this.”

Seymour came into the game boasting it’s best record in six years with senior running back Joey Salemme (3,803 career yards) needing 222 yards to break the school record set by Edwin Esson in 1980. The Woodland defense held Salemme to 90 yards on six carries. The majority of those yards came on a 55-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.

Bobbie concluded the scoring on a 20-yard blast with 1:41 to go for the final 41-14 margin.

Phipps said the seniors made sure they left everything on the field.

“A big part of this is we have a proud group of 14 seniors that go back to being starters as sophomores in a state playoff game,” Phipps said. “They came into this game wanting to leave everything they had on the field.”