Following an earlier than expected bye week due to Hurricane Sandy, the Hand Tigers’ football team hosted SCC foe Shelton at Hand's turf field on Nov. 9. Despite a scoreless third quarter, the Tigers rolled to a 42-23 victory over the Gaels to improve to 8-0 on the season.

In the first quarter, running back Matt Walsh got things started for Hand with a two-yard touchdown run. He was then followed by an 18-yard TD scamper from Ian O’Toole to put Hand up by 14 after one period of play.

The Tigers went up by three scores following a 19-yard march from Jackson Nye, yet it was answered by the Gaels finally grabbing points with a one-yard run from Jagger Kalagian. Walsh responded with his second score of the evening on a three-yard dash to the end zone. The two teams went to the locker room with a 28-10 score when Ed Groth booted a 49-yard field goal-a new SCC record-through the uprights.

As the lone score in the third period, Shelton’s Eddie Kochiss hooked up with quarterback Mark Piccirillo on a 22-yard scoring play to cut the deficit to 11. Hand shut the door on any chance of an upset by Shelton when quarterback Brendan Bilcheck used his footwork to score on an 11-yard run. The Bilcheck score was then followed by Kyle Anderson earning a four-yard TD reception from Bilcheck. Kochiss and Piccirillo again connected for another score, this time of the four-yard length, but it was too little too late as the Tigers held on for the SCC win.

The Tigers are now 8-0 on the season and next travel to Veterans’ Stadium for a Nov. 15 contest against another SCC foe in Notre Dame-West Haven (3-5) at 6 p.m. The Tigers are also still ranked No. 1 in the Class L standings with a 155 point average-better than No. 2 Windsor with 147.5.