The North Branford football team spoiled any chance division rival Hyde-Career-Whitney had at making the Class M State Playoffs by blowing out the Howling Wolves 53-6 the night before Thanksgiving at Crisafi Field in East Haven on Nov. 25. The game marked the final installment of the Harvest Bowl as Hyde is moving to the SCC next season. The teams capped the series all even with eight wins apiece and will look for new opponents come Thanksgiving time next year.

“We’re going to be meeting as a league to conclude our end-of-the-year selections and we’ll start discussing schedules for the next two years,” North Branford Head Coach Mark Basil said. “With Hyde being out, we’ll try to fill that void on Thanksgiving locally. Early discussions have been Coginchaug.”

As for this one, Hyde scored on the opening play from scrimmage when Neal Eley took the ball 68 yards for the touchdown. However, the visiting Thunderbirds then put up 53 unanswered points to finish the Harvest Bowl rivalry in style and cap this season at 6-4 overall with a mark of 3-2 Pequot Conference South Division.

“Yeah, my team was a difficult one to read because there was so many new faces to the varsity roster that they didn’t realize they were better than they showed. They had a couple of games where we let them get away,” Cooach Basil said. “The other night, the guys were more relaxed. We still had a number of injuries to key starters that got dinged up, but I just think that there wasn’t pressure on them. They were 5-4, it was our last time playing a rivalry game with Hyde, and we came out on top. I think the combo of putting a cap on the season and playing our last game against Hyde, everyone played well.”

North Branford responded to Hyde’s score with a 12-play, 80-yard drive to take a 7-6 lead. Running back Ryan Reilly polished off the march with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the T-Birds the advantage for good.

Early in the second quarter, quarterback Paul Pastet scored on a 1-yard touchdown plunge to extend the lead at 13-6. Throughout the rest of the contest, North Branford turned to an aerial assault on Hyde to put the game away. Pastet connected on touchdown passes to Reilly, Matt Chamberlain, Frank Laudano, and Shelby Franklin during the second and third quarters. Reilly scored on a screen pass that went for 78 yards, Chamberlain’s touchdown came from 17 yards out, Laudano’s score was a 23-yard pass, and Franklin’s was a 75-yard catch-and-run on a 3rd-down-and-30 play.

“I think our game-plan coming into the week and game against Hyde was to attack them through the air because Reilly was one of the kids that were dinged up nursing an ankle,” said Basil, whose team led 34-6 at halftime. “We know that Hyde has good speed and are aggressive, so we were going to utilize our strength and attack through the air. We were able to capitalize on some big plays on long touchdowns, which came around to help the run. I think it was in our game-plan to take advantage of Paul’s passing.”

Pastet finished the game with an efficient passing percentage of 17-of-19 for 325 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 56 yards and a score.

“Paul was a kid that finished out our season last year. He got some meaningful minutes in big games and he had a lot of tools. He’s a good athlete,” Basil said. “He did a great job of managing the offense this year. I thought coming in he was one of the top two quarterbacks in the league and he was. Paul did a really good job and finished his career with his best game. It’s nice to see.”

North Branford’s final two scores came from the legs of Shelby Franklin. He sprinted home on runs of 60 yards and 38 yards to finish with a team-high 98 on the ground. Franklin also led the T-Birds with 146 receiving yards and Reilly added another 102.

Defensively for the Thunderbirds, Franklin had a team-best 16 tackles, plus George Poleschuk had 12 and Mike Calamita finished with 10. Poleschuk also blocked a punt and Matt Chamberlain picked off two passes. The win was a total team effort and a great way for North Branford to finish its 2015 season.

“Shelby and Paul played well and my other two captains, George and Matt, played great on defense, so it just came together,” Coach Basil said. “We could’ve played like that. I envisioned that most of the year. I was really happy with this outcome.”

From the Sidelines

Wins for North Branford this season came against Haddam-Killingworth (28-6), Old Saybrook-Westbrook (33-7), The Sport & Medical Sciences Academy/University (27-6), Windsor Locks-Suffield-East Granby (56-12), Gilbert-Northwest Regional (34-6), and Hyde-Career-Whitney (53-6).

Loses for the T-Birds this year came at the hands of Morgan (40-37), Valley Regional-Old Lyme (27-21 in double overtime), Cromwell-Portland (14-7), and East Haven (37-13).