BEACON FALLS — Naugatuck High’s breakout football star helped turn a tight game against rival Woodland into a blowout last Friday night.
Zach Koslosky turned a broken third-and-10 pass play into a 35-yard gain and caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Mike Plasky on the next play as Naugy eventually pulled away for a 35-6 win in the fifth edition of the George Pinho Trophy game.
Koslosky caught four passes for 77 yards and that touchdown, which gave Naugatuck (4-0) a 13-0 lead midway through the third period.
“The kid is amazing,” Naugatuck coach Dave Sollazzo said. “He does things that you just can’t explain. He’s just a football player. He makes big play after big play after big play. We get the ball in his hands and he makes things happen.”
“He comes into practice, does what he has to do and puts in the work,” Naugatuck’s Efe Onakpoma said. “It shows on the field. I’m just glad we have him on our side.”
Woodland (2-2) dominated time of possession in the first half, holding the ball for 10:59 of the first quarter thanks to a strong running game and two Naugatuck turnovers. But the Greyhounds’ defense never broke, forcing a pair of key turnovers on downs before finally getting on the board.
“We’ve been playing good defense all year,” said Sollazzo, whose team is allowing 16 points per game. “They just played exceptionally well. We had a good week of practice, kept it simple and they did their jobs. I didn’t think we did a good job of tackling in the first half, but I thought as the game went on, we tackled really well.”
Elijah Robinson scored on a 22-yard reverse in the second period to put Naugy up 6-0, and the Greyhounds stopped Ben Nuss an inch shy of the goal line on the last play of the first half to preserve the lead.
“We just had to stay tough on the line, do our jobs on defense,” Naugatuck linebacker Mike Natkiel said. “Everything fell into place.”
“That boosted our whole mentality,” Onakpoma said of the goal-line stop. “It gave us a lot of energy to come out in the second half and do what we had to do.”
Robinson added a 53-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Onakpoma and Doreon Chapman also scored second-half touchdowns for Naugatuck, which is 4-0 for the first time since 2011.
“In the first half, (Woodland) seemed like they wanted it a little bit more,” Sollazzo said. “We bent but didn’t break, but we wanted it in the second half. We knew it was going to be a war. We knew we were going to get their best shot in the first half, but we stayed the course.”
Edit Krivca paced Woodland with 111 yards on 25 carries. Nick Rousseau added 46 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown, while Nuss carried 16 times for 82 yards.
While Woodland still leads the all-time series against Naugatuck, 11-4, the Greyhounds have won three of the five meetings with the George Pinho Trophy on the line. The trophy, which is named after the late Woodland assistant coach and Naugatuck native, was presented to Plasky by George’s wife Jane, brother Tony and oldest son Jake.
And although Sollazzo is a newcomer to the area, he understands how important this rivalry — and the Pinho Trophy — have become to the two schools.
“From my understanding, [George Pinho] was all about kids,” Sollazzo said. “All he wanted to do was help and coach kids. They say he helped and coached kids as much as he helped his own kids. Any time you’re playing for a person like that and a family like that, you have to respect it and want to go out there and give it your all.”
Naugatuck will host winless Wilby on Friday at 7 p.m. Woodland will host Oxford (1-3) on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
