For the Branford football team, it was not exactly “win and in” for its postseason hopes as the Hornets entered their regular-season finale, but rather, win to have a shot to get in with help. Fortunately, regardless of the phrasing, the Hornets made it happen and have extended their season beyond the holiday.

The Hornets hosted East Haven on Nov. 24 in the teams’ annual Thanksgiving morning clash. The stakes for the game were beyond bragging rights, as Branford needed to claim victory in order to stay in contention for postseason play.

It was indeed a Happy Thanksgiving for Head Coach John Limone and his Hornets, as they first handled their business convincingly with a 48-14 triumph to finish 5-5 for the regular season. Branford also did in fact clinch a spot in the Class M State Playoffs once the dust settled on the day, the program’s second-straight playoff berth after reaching the state semifinal round a year ago. It additionally marks the first occasion since the 2004 and 2005 campaigns that the Hornets qualified for the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

“It is always a special day anytime you win on Thanksgiving Day regardless of what does or does not come next. We treat this game with the utmost respect; it is important to both communities, “ said Limone. “As far as the playoffs, we knew we had a shot to get in with a win despite the fact the year did not go the way we wanted it to. We look at the playoffs as something you can’t take for granted. We had a stroke of good luck to get in after the mathematics with the point average, but we would be fools to not take advantage of it.”

The Hornets jumped on the Yellowjackets, who finished 2-8 on their campaign, early and often–holding a 41-0 command after three quarters and kept the visitors off the scoreboard until 5:25 remained in the game. Branford has now won three straight in the all-time series with East Haven and leads it 43-33-4 overall.

Defensively, Branford boasted a masterful performance in keeping East Haven to -2 rushing yards as a team. Senior Jermaine Smalls powered the Hornets’ offense with three rushing touchdowns on 174 yards via the ground.

For the first quarter, Branford started the day with Smalls rushing for a 3-yard scoring scamper with 7:33 remaining in the period. Junior Cole Snider then ran it in from five yards away four minutes and two seconds later to put the Hornets ahead 14-0 after one period of play.

Junior Nate Florio, who also clinched a 1,000-rushing yard season after a 13-carry, 111-rushing yard day, raced in on a 3-yard TD dash at the 11:55 juncture of the second stanza to put Branford up by three scores. It would end up being the lone points of the quarter as the home side headed to intermission up 21-0.

Branford did not stop with the sizable lead, increasing it with a trio of third quarter TDs. Florio raced 37 yards down the field to paydirt with 9:15 to play in the third prior to Snider nabbing an 18-yard spurt to score four minutes later. Finally, Smalls gave Branford its 41-point edge heading to the final frame on a 5-yard TD rush.

East Haven finally stopped the streak of scores unanswered with two long TD tosses, one from

80 yards away and another from 25 yards out with 5:25 and 4:09 to play, respectively, to make it 41-14. Yet it of course was not enough, with Smalls putting the capper on his TD hat trick with a sprint from 26 yards away as 97 ticks remained. The Hornets then rode out the clock to what ended up being an invite to the postseason party.

Seniors Horace Bacote and Drew Schwartz made the All-SCC Tier 3 Team on defense as linemen, while senior classmate Greg Kealey joined them on the squad via the linebacker position.

In the regular season, Branford defeated Waterford (42-20), Tolland (30-14), Lyman Hall (25-22), Bassick (44-16), and East Haven (48-14). The Hornets’ defeats came at the hands of Guilford (28-7), Law (45-21), Foran (35-14), Killingly (67-0), and Hamden (27-0).

Through the ups and downs of a regular season that saw Branford lose four straight following a 2-1 start before concluding the campaign with three consecutive triumphs, the Hornets learned a lot about themselves and revealed their true grit and character.

“We had to constantly adjust. A lot of things we thought would be constant weren’t, so we had to find solutions,” Coach Limone said. “Three of our five losses were against 8-2 teams, and the other two were against 9-1 teams. We ran into hot teams at the time we were figuring out who we were. We lost our senior captain Nathan Chieffo to injury in Week 1, but it was a positive for guys who had to step up and did. We lost 67-0 to Killingly [on Oct. 21], but then we came back and played really well against Hamden in a game that was only 14-0 late [27-0 loss on Oct. 28]. The kids understood that it is a week-to-week process, and that they can compete.”

As the No. 8 seed in the Class M State Playoffs, the Hornets will travel to top-seeded and unbeaten Berlin (with a 10-0 mark) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at Sage Park at 6:30 p.m. The winner will face the victor of No. 4 Rockville (8-2) and 5th-seeded ATI (also 8-2) in the semifinals on Sunday,Dec. 4 at 12:30 p.m. The final will be played on Saturday, Dec. 10.

“We had the good fortune of making the playoffs last year, so the kids that were here last year understand the grind and know everything is done at a fireman’s pace,” Limone said on playoff preparation. “It is a special opportunity, and we have to take it seriously. Berlin is a well-coached program, but for our guys, we are grateful for the opportunity. We have to go out, execute, and play as well as we can.”