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11/01/2014 12:00 AMThe Branford football team hosted a winless division foe in Lyman Hall on Oct. 30 and made sure the Trojans stayed that way by posting an 18-6 victory at the MacVeigh Complex.
The Hornets actually trailed the Trojans by a 6-0 count at halftime before scoring two touchdowns in the third quarter and one in the fourth en route to victory. Senior captain running back Carl Williams led Branford by 273 yards and touchdown on 24 rushes.
The victory was the Hornets’ second of the season, improving them to 2-5 overall and 2-5 in SCC Division II West. John Limone’s squad is tied for first with Hillhouse (3-5, 2-0) and one game ahead of Law (3-4, 1-1) in the division standings. Branford plays at Law at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7 and then hosts Hillhouse at 7 on Friday, Nov. 14.
“The most important thing is that we got the win. That’s why we play on Friday nights,” said Limone. “It wasn’t pretty, but I told the kids after the game that I was proud of them. They were gritty, stayed with it, and got it done.”
Lyman Hall (0-8, 0-3) used an 8-yard touchdown pass as time expired in the second quarter to take a six-point lead to intermission. For the Hornets, the first half didn’t go quite as smoothly as they had hoped.
“We had some opportunities that we squandered and made some mistakes. We had a personnel mishap with 12 men on the field and then we roughed their kicker and gave them a first down and also had a busted coverage at the end,” said Limone. “That hurt us in the first half, but we seemed to settle down in the second half.”
Branford got on the board when junior quarterback Zach DeGoursey booked home on a 32-yard touchdown run just under two minutes into the third quarter. The extra point kick was no good and the game was tied 6-6. Then about midway through the third, junior running back Russell Morales scored from seven yards out and the Hornets had the lead for good. The two-point conversion run came up short and it was 12-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Branford held its one-score lead through the duration of the final frame before Williams broke loose for a 56-yard insurance touchdown that put Branford in command. The TD rush was one five carries for Williams that went for 20-plus yards. Branford’s extra point kick was unsuccessful, but it didn’t matter as the Hornets had an 18-6 advantage which held up as the final margin of victory.
“We ran the ball extremely well in the second half and the defense really knuckled down,” said Limone. “Carl was incredible and made a lot of plays and it wasn’t just him running around people. He ran hard and was breaking tackles and we also blocked well. Zach had a few big runs for us, too, and Owen Karsmarski made an outstanding catch on 3rd-and-long when we had to have it late in the game.”
DeGoursey rushed 12 times for 100 yards and a TD and also completed six passes for 64 yards.
Leading tacklers on defense were Morales (13), junior Dominick Corraro (7 that included 3.5 for a loss), sophomore James Dering (6), and Williams (6). Corraro also had a sack and combined with sophomore Neil Clyne on another. Morales and Williams each had an interception, Karsmarski forced a fumble, and junior Zach Ellison recovered a fumble for Branford.
The Hornets now get ready for two crucial division duels against Law and Hillhouse.
“Right now, we have two goals, which are to have a winning season and win the division and we’ll have to win this week,” Limone said. “Law is a tough opponent who plays physical and it’s not an easy place to play so it will be a battle. We look forward to it, we’ll put in the work, and it will be a great test for us. Hopefully, we can come out on top.”