Another week, another game the Tigers’ football team wasn’t favored to win, yet again it was Hand dishing out the disappointment to its SCC foe.

The Tigers defeated fellow SCC Division I power Fairfield Prep, 35-27, on Oct. 18 at the Surf Club to give the Jesuits their first conference loss of the season. The winning score proved to be a 76-yard touchdown connection between sophomore quarterback Nick Van Dell and senior wideout Tom Wilson on 3

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-and-long in the fourth quarter.

“We practice that play a bunch and usually I’m not the first read,” Wilson said. “I thought [senior] Jake Mirando would catch the ball, but Nick threw a heck of a ball. This win was just another step. We have the toughest schedule in the state, and we just take it week by week. We just hope to keep getting these wins for our town and community.”

Van Dell finished his evening 18-for-23 with two touchdown tosses on 221 yards through the air. Wilson was the leading reception man with his seven catches for 177 yards and a pair of scores, along with a kickoff returned for a touchdown.

“This was another opportunity to take a step forward in what we are doing,” Head Coach Steve Filippone said. “We didn’t play our best game last week versus Cheshire in what was a trap game, so it was our coaching staff’s challenge to get the kids ready for this one versus what is still a top 10 team. Our kids responded well all week to our coaching; they executed the game plan almost flawlessly. We knew we would have to score either on defense or in the kicking game, play defense well enough to slow them down, and need big plays from the offense and that’s how it went.”

The Tigers (5-1) took advantage of many Fairfield Prep (4-2) miscues in the early going. The Jesuits fumbled three plays into the game, which was converted into a 25-yard scoring run by senior linebacker Dan Rogers on the recovery. Fairfield Prep responded with a short run of its own to make it a 7-6 contest after a missed extra point before a Jesuits’ special teams mistake and 85-yard kickoff return by Wilson to put Hand up, 14-6.

The Tigers kept the points coming, as senior running back Conor Dowd ran the ball in from six yards out, and then Wilson struck again on a 25-yard touchdown catch to give Hand a commanding 28-6 lead after a half.

Following a scoreless third, Fairfield Prep began to mount a comeback with two scores and a two-point conversion to only trail 28-20 with 8:08 remaining. Van Dell and Wilson responded with that 76-yard hookup to give the Tigers a two-score cushion, yet the Jesuits trailed by eight after a 9-yard passing score.

“Nick is a phenom and a story in himself,” Filippone stated. “The play before he took a sack and a reamed him out for it, yet he bounced right back on the next play. I asked him after, ‘You know what makes a superstar? Someone who can make a great play after a bad one,’ and Tom Wilson will rank as one of the top receivers in the end. I have seen tremendous growth from our guys this year. As a coaching staff, there is so much pride in our kids, because they are defending the tradition of Hand football the way we expect them to, they understand their responsibilities, and are living up to them every day.”

It was not to be for Fairfield Prep, though, because Hand grabbed a critical first down from its own 35-yard line and ran out the clock to another victory over a big-time SCC adversary.

“The people that came out definitely got their money’s worth tonight and saw two very good teams,” Filippone said. “Prep literally ran out of time and we stunned them early.”

The Tigers now prepare for another test when they travel to 5-1 Shelton on Friday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. For the postseason, the two-time defending Class L state champions are currently ranked fifth in the playoff standings with a 116.67 point average.

“Shelton is a spread pass team with a capable run game that also plays man-to-man defense,” Filippone said. “I think because they play defense like that, we have a shot at them. They are as good a team as Prep is and both are very similar. The next few games are going to mean a lot in terms of playoff standings and it’s fun to be in the mix. The next few weeks will all be nip-and-tuck games, yet the next five weeks, these teams will be seeing the best we have.”