TORRINGTON — The Greyhounds didn’t play their best football game of the season last Friday in Torrington, but they got the job done when it mattered the most and escaped with a 30-26 win.
The Greyhounds (3-0) clung to a 28-26 lead when Mike Plasky booted a 50-yard punt that was downed at the 1-yard line by Ricardo Montanez.
The Raiders (1-2) had 99 yards to go with 3:31 remaining but had already cashed in on an 80-yard kickoff return and touchdown runs of 53 and 32 yards on the night. The big play possibility was there for the taking, but it was the Naugy defense that came up big to seal the victory.
After Torrington got out a little breathing room, Naugatuck’s Jayden Anderson broke through the line and dumped quarterback Ora Curry for a 14-yard sack with under a minute to play. That proved to be the straw that broke the back of the Raiders as they ran out of the end zone on the final play of the game for a safety.
“Coach is always drilling us with doing your job,” Anderson said. “We gave up some yards and some long touchdowns, but in that fourth quarter we were focused. We played with heart and we played as a team.”
“Jayden Anderson keeps getting better and better each week,” Naugatuck head coach Dave Sollazzo said. “He really came through for us making an awesome play on that sack. Mike Plasky showed his leadership throwing for three touchdowns. He really showed his poise and that’s what being a quarterback is all about.”
Naugy started out like they were going to send Torrington packing early. Mike Plasky (13-for-22, 176 yards, 3 touchdowns) found Montanez streaking down the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown grab on Naugatuck’s first possession of the game.
But, for the second time in three weeks, there was a breakdown on the kickoff coverage and Dylan Myrie returned the kickoff to cut Naugatuck’s lead to 7-6 game four minutes into the contest.
Naugy extended the lead to 21-6 in the second quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run by Doreon Chapman and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Plasky to Zach Koslosky.
Koslosky, who had five catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns to go along with four extra points, made the grab over his shoulder with a Torrington defender grabbing a hold of his shoulder pad in the end zone.
“I’m not sure if I even saw it,” Koslosky said. “The defender was all over me. But when I saw the ball released I stuck up my hands on instinct and managed to catch it.”
With six minutes remaining in the half, it appeared that Naugy was about to pull away when Curry took off on a run straight up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown.
Naugatuck stopped the two-point conversion attempt — something the Greyhounds did three out of four tries on the night — and took a 21-12 lead into halftime.
On the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage in the second half, Myrie out raced the Naugy defense into the end zone on a 53-yard jaunt to make it a 21-20 game.
With the score still sitting at 21-20 in the fourth, Naugatuck stopped a fake punt attempt by Torrington and took over at the Raiders’ 42 yard line. Plasky capped a six-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown strike to Koslosky to give the Greyhounds a 28-20 lead.
Myrie took it in from 10 yards out to cut the lead to 28-26 with 5:45 to go, but it was Naugatuck that would make the last big play on the night to go home with a win.
“Torrington is a very good football team,” Sollazzo said. “They have speed and they have size. First and foremost our guys are learning how to overcome adversity. These guys had each other’s back all night long. When someone screwed up, someone else would step up and make a play. Did we play our best game? No, of course we didn’t. Our line had problems with Torrington’s size up front. Hopefully we learned from that.”
Naugatuck will head to Woodland on Friday night for annual George Pinho Trophy game at 6:30 p.m.
