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10/20/2013 12:00 AMThe Valley Regional/Old Lyme football team forced five turnovers in its 38-13 win over North Branford to improve to 5-0 on the year, keeping the Warriors undefeated on the season and inching them closer to a Pequot title.
“Any time you come in here, you’re in for a battle,” said Head Coach Tim King. “We knew it was going to be an absolute dog fight, but they made a couple mistakes. The turnovers were a big change in the game and we took advantage.”
The Warriors scored 10 points off of turnovers and added another seven after North Branford turned the ball over on downs inside its own red zone.
Valley got things going early, marching 65 yards on 11 plays to score on its first possession of the game. Quarterback Phil Cohen hit wideout Chris Jean Pierre to convert on two separate third downs on the drive, and halfback Justin Cheverier punched home a 4-yard touchdown. On the Warriors’ next possession, Cohen hit Cheverier on a screen pass that went for 74 yards, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Jean Pierre to give the Warriors an early 14-0 lead.
North Branford had the next two scores—a 35-yard pass from Eddie Miller to Austin Calamita, then a 2-yard run by Miller—to make it 14-13, but after that it was all Valley.
In the second quarter, Miller fumbled on his own 22-yard line, giving Cohen and company the ball right outside the red zone. The Warriors didn’t take long to capitalize as Cohen hit Evan Smith in the corner of the end zone on the very next play for a 22-yard score. After a botched punt gave the Warriors the ball at North Branford’s 18-yard line on the very next possession, Cohen hit wide receiver David Peck for an 18-yard touchdown, and just like that it was a 28-13 game.
“You see it in all of football; you have to capitalize off of turnovers,” Cohen said. “If you don’t capitalize on turnovers, bad things can happen, so we made sure to capitalize off the turnovers today.”
The Warriors weren’t done in the first half, though. Once again, Valley intercepted Miller and made one final drive to end the first half. Cohen completed 5-of-7 passes for 48 yards, setting up a 20-yard Jared Roche field goal to end the half and sending both teams into the locker room with Valley leading 31-13.
“Phil did a good job getting the ball out there to places where we could catch the ball,” King said. “Phil put the ball where they could catch it without missing a stride.”
Cohen finished the first half 14-of-20 for 234 yards and two touchdowns, and added more in the second half.
He hit Peck, who finished with 77 receiving yards, for his second receiving touchdown of the game, this time from 38 yards midway through the third quarter to make it 38-13. The defense continued to play hard throughout the rest of the game, forcing one more fumble, and picking off Miller on the final play of the third quarter.
“Our defensive coordinator puts us in great position to make plays on defense,” Cohen said. “It was a good one tonight. North Branford’s offense is unbelievable. They have Eddie Miller at quarterback, a junior, who is already an uprising star in the Pequot league and we were just put in the right spot tonight by our defensive coordinator.”
Cohen finished the game with 298 yards through the air and another 21 on the ground, throwing for three scores. Cheverier ran for 53 and had 74 receiving, and Jean Pierre caught 11 passes for 106 yards.
King is looking forward to the Warriors’ next opponent in Morgan, which is also undefeated, on Friday, Oct. 25 in Clinton.
“It’s going to be a great game versus Morgan,” he said. “We’re 5-0, they’re 5-0. It’s going to be a showdown.”