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11/07/2022 02:31 PMThe North Branford football team hit the road to take on the Windsor Locks-Suffield-East Granby (WL-S-EG) co-op squad last week. The Thunderbirds claimed a 41-26 victory in the matchup at Suffield High School to improve their overall record to 4-4 on the year. WL-S-EG dropped to 2-5 with the loss.
North Branford held a 12-6 lead over the Raiders at halftime then then scored the first touchdown of the third quarter to take a 20-6 advantage. The two clubs traded touchdowns the rest of the way as the T-Birds walked off the field with the 15-point win.
Senior quarterback Mason Provencher had a huge game for North Branford by going 14-of-20 for 190 yards and 3 touchdowns in the victory, in addition to carrying the ball 15 times for 149 yards and a score. Sophomore Tommy Hansen also tore it up in the ground game by rushing 17 times for 142 yards and a TD. He also had 2 catches for 33 yards to boot.
Senior Elias Defaranos had 4 receptions for 56 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win. Fellow senior Ian Kamienski grabbed 4 catches for 64 yards and a touchdown for the Thunderbirds. Senior Jack Meehan had 2 catches for 14 yards, and junior Braden Burns reeled in a 15-yard reception.
Kamienski snagged 2 interceptions to lead the T-Birds’ defense. Senior Charlie Johnson also had an interception for North Branford. Meehan added a pair of pass deflections to the defensive effort.
Senior Tyler Serenson made 17 tackles for the T-Birds in the victory. Senior Dradon Brindisi had 13 tackles, while junior Luke Blomster recorded 11 tackles. Junior Lucian DePino made 9 tackles, Burns had 8 tackles, Johnson had 7 tackles, senior Dylan Burwell made 6 tackles, and Meehan added 5 tackles.
WL-S-EG recorded the first score of the game on a 4-yard touchdown run in the opening quarter. The Raiders held a 6-0 lead after one.
North Branford responded by scoring a pair of touchdowns during the second quarter. First, Provencher ran for a 2-yard TD to tie the game at 6-6. Later in the frame, Provencher connected with Defaranos for a 6-yard touchdown pass to put the Thunderbirds up 12-6, which held up as the score at halftime.
North Branford increased its lead when Provencher found Defaranos for an 8-yard TD in the third quarter. Freshman AJ Sigel then tossed the 2-point conversion to Meehan to give the T-Birds a 20-6 lead.
Following a 7-yard TD run from the Raiders, North Branford responded with a 4-yard touchdown rush by Hansen to make it 26-12. WL-S-EG came back with a 55-yard TD run to cut the deficit to 26-18 entering the fourth.
Provencher threw his third touchdown of the game with a 24-yard scoring strike to Kamienski in the fourth quarter. Hansen ran in the 2-point try to increase the T-Birds’ lead to 34-18.
The Raiders came back with an 18-yard TD pass and then hit the 2-point conversion to make it a one-score game again at 34-26. However, North Branford countered with a 7-yard touchdown run from Hansen, followed by an extra point from by Eric Izzo, to put the final stamp on a 41-26 victory.
The Thunderbirds are currently in the No. 11 spot in the Class S State Playoff rankings in which the top eight squads qualify. North Branford will be on the bye week this week. The T-Birds’ next game is a road tilt versus Morgan at the Peters Complex in Clinton on Friday, Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. After that, North Branford is hosting Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton for its annual Thanksgiving week game on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. at Colafati Field.