Woodland High football coach Chris Moffo laughed at the question, partly because the answer was obvious and perhaps partly because the task his Hawks face is extraordinary.
What challenges does Seymour pose?
“You know what the challenge is,” said Moffo, referring to Seymour senior running back Bobby Melms.
Melms will lead Seymour (7-2) against Woodland (5-4) in the 15th annual Thanksgiving eve meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the DeBarber Field turf.
Melms is one of the best athletes in the entire state. A multi-time Naugatuck Valley League and state track and field champion, Melms is in his third season as the Wildcats’ starting back.
Through nine games this season, Melms has rushed for 1,028 yards (11.7 yards per carry) and 13 touchdowns. He’s added another 345 yards and five scores through the air.
“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Moffo said. “They have a lot of weapons with him, (utility player Tyler) Ganim, (Ian) Sadick at quarterback. They have a lot of weapons that we have to keep an eye on, but No. 6 is definitely one of the best running backs that we have in the league. He’s going to be a handful.”
Melms ran wild against Woodland during last season’s holiday matchup, a 55-20 win for the Wildcats as they entered the Class S state playoffs for the second year in a row. He carried 13 times for 192 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.
That game nudged Seymour ahead in the all-time series standings. The Wildcats hold an 8-7 edge in 15 all-time matchups. The Thanksgiving series is tied at 7-all; Seymour claimed a win in the 2007 Class SS semifinals.
Moffo isn’t the only one who knows what the key to Wednesday’s game will be.
“Stop Bobby Melms, plain and simple,” Woodland lineman Joe Kmetz said. “If we stop Bobby Melms, I think we have a very good chance of winning the football game.”
One way Woodland might be able to slow down Melms is to keep the ball out of his hands. The Hawks’ wing-T offense is capable of holding the football for long stretches of the game, and the Black and Gold is playing its best football of the season at the right time.
Woodland enters with a 5-4 record but has won three straight. The turning point of the season was a 15-8 win over St. Paul on Oct. 28 when the Hawks dealt the Falcons a defeat to effectively knock them out of postseason contention.
Despite battling injuries in the backfield and on the offensive line all season, Woodland appears to be as healthy as it’s been this fall. It should have its entire complement of running backs available, including Edit Krivca, Ben Nuss, Zach Kabusk and Nick Rousseau. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Bulinski has also improved throughout the season.
“Coming off the St. Paul game, we started clicking a little bit,” Moffo said. “Getting guys back (from injury) and having other guys step up helped a lot. We’ve continued to get better each week.”
Seymour enters the game with a 7-2 record and must beat Woodland to have a chance at making the Class S playoffs for the third straight year. The Wildcats’ only losses came in a sloppy early-season effort against Naugatuck and a midseason rout against Ansonia, the only two undefeated teams in the NVL.
“We’ve always told them here that you have to throw records aside on Thanksgiving,” Moffo said. “It’s going to be a game — Thanksgiving always is. We talked about the past, like 2013 when they gave us quite a game (a 22-19 comeback win to put Woodland in the playoffs). We’ve talked about all the games from ’03 all the way up. Unfortunately this year there aren’t playoff hopes in sight, but this is still going to be a game that the seniors are always going to remember.”
“It’s the last game of the year and you’re going to give it all you’ve got,” Woodland lineman Jackson Henry said. “I’m trying not to blink.”
Editor’s note: This article appears in the Citizen’s News’ special Thanksgiving football section published the week of Nov. 24, 2017.
