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Zach DeGourcey scores the first touchdown of the game. He rushed for 161 yards.
The Branford Hornets football team played and lost to four outstanding teams to start their season. The first four teams on the schedule included Foran, Hillhouse, Hand and North Haven who had a combined record of 19 – 1 and outscored the Hornets by a combined 166 – 13. North Haven was ranked 6th in the state rankings this past week and Hand 11th.
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Noah DeGourcey gets some blocking from Neil Clyne and Jacob Roberts. He ran for 35 yards on 10 carries.
“We knew we were in for a rough time looking at our early season schedule, Coach John Limone said. “Our kids played hard but we definitely knew our work was cut out for us. We were looking forward to playing the second half of our schedule where we knew we were much more competitive.
Last Friday the Hornets traveled to Sheehan in Wallingford to face the 1 – 4 Titans and earned their first win: 23 – 12.
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Dan Martin takes off after grabbing one of his three receptions for Branford.
Last Friday the Hornets traveled to Sheehan in Wallingford to face the 1 – 4 Titans and earned their first win: 23 – 12.
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Freshman Jackson Seward deflects a Sheehan punt.
The hungry Hornets scored on their first possession, a 12 play, 77-yard drive.
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Zach DeGourcey breaks free on a thirteen yard run for his second touchdown.
Senior co-captain Zach DeGoursey (pictured) scored on a two yard run. Teddy Gionteris added the extra point for a 7 – 0 lead. It was the first lead for the Hornets all season.
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Here Neil Clyne tackles Sheehans Tyler Selmecki for a loss.
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Quarterback Griffin Lynch gets ready to make a handoff.
Branford scored twice in the second quarter, first on another DeGoursey scamper of 13 yards and then a 12 yard touchdown pass from Griffin Lynch (pictured) to Luke DiStasio. At half-time the lead was 19 – 0.
DeGoursey was a workhorse and rushed for 161 yards on 37 carries for a fine 4.35 average per carry. “He played like a young man possessed tonight,” said Limone who also praised his O line. “They did a terrific job tonight opening some big holes for Zach.”
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Junior James Dering had a key interception just before half-time to stop a Titan drive.
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Here is Co-captain Luke DiStasio who grabbed a 17 yard TD pass from Griffen Lynch to make the score 25 – 6.
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Coach John Limone (front) and his assistants L‑R Billy Ryan, Mike Fowler and EJ Sattleberger (partially hidden) watch the final few seconds of the game.
The teams exchanged scores in the second half with Sheehan scoring twice and Branford once on a second Lynch to DiStasio TD pass, a 17 yard score in the third quarter. DiStasio had 3 receptions for 35 yards and two TD’s. Lynch threw 12 times completing 7 for 117 yards and two TD’s and sophomore Dan Thomas had 3 receptions totaling 74 yards.
Branford’s defense also played very well, shutting down Sheehan’s Nolan Clouthier who ran up a school record of 375 yards and 5 TD’s the week before in a win over Guilford.
This past Thursday the Hornets traveled to Wallingford again to face Lyman Hall, coming away with their second win 28 – 7 over the Trojans. Their next game is at home Friday against Law.
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