The Thunderbirds are in the playoffs. Regardless of the journey to get there, that outcome accomplishes a season-long goal for the North Branford football team. They defeated Coginchaug Regional-East Hampton-Hale Ray (CREHHR) on Nov. 27, 51-18, in their annual Thanksgiving week clash to improve their overall record to 6-4 on the season.

In that game, the Thunderbirds relied, as they have all season, on their relentless running game. Behind stellar offensive line play, North Branford saw five players combine for over 350 yards rushing.

Sophomore Tommy Hansen led the way with 13 carries for 151 yards and four touchdowns. Four seniors followed him; captain Ian Kamienski carried the ball 3 times for 83 yards, Jack Meehan had 4 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown, captain Mason Provencher tallied 4 carries for 39 yards and Jace Kamienski added three carries for 16 yards and a touchdown. In total, the Thunderbirds crossed the goal line six times on the ground.

Head Coach Mark Basil acknowledged that the running game is the foundation of this year’s team. When they are successful on the ground, there is little opponents can do to slow them down.

“We have some talented kids on offense,” Coach Basil said, “a pretty good offensive line when we have all our pieces back. Anybody that knows our team this year, knows it’s built around the running game, when that gets going, unless you’re forced to change it up, and we weren’t really, you stick with it.”

Senior quarterback and captain Mason Provencher completed two passes for 54 yards. Senior Eric Izzo and senior Eli Defaranos both hauled in receptions for North Branford. On defense, senior Tyler Serenson and junior Luke Blomster led the way with nine tackles each. Blomster also recorded two sacks. Senior Dradon Brandisi, senior Jack Meehan, and junior Lucian Depino all added seven tackles of their own. Ian Kamienski grabbed an interception for the Thunderbirds.

The engine to the T-Birds’ strong running game has been a strong offensive line. Unfortunately, the unit was slowed down early in the season when they lost senior and captain Dom Langello to injury. Coach Basil lamented his loss calling him the team’s “warrior” and “face of the team when it comes to toughness.”

In his absence, North Branford has needed multiple players to step up. Senior captain Ty Serenson and junior Braden Burns have been a large part of this. Junior Lucian DePino has also had a breakout season, contributing on both sides of the line.

Dom’s injury was one of many injuries to key players North Branford has had to overcome this season. Broken ankles, concussions, and broken collar bones have hindered the Thunderbirds’ roster this year, resulting in just a single game in which they took the field with their original preseason roster fully intact.

While the path to get there looked quite different from what Head Coach Mark Basil envisioned for his team in the preseason, the ultimate destination was the same. “I thought that we could be very good, we’ve had a number of obstacles that we’ve tried to overcome. We did some of them, others we did our best, and it still got us to a playoff position.”

Part of the reason this team has been able to overcome said obstacles has been versatility and camaraderie. Coach Basil credits his team for their ability to play multiple positions but acknowledges that injuries depleted their depth and made rest difficult to come by.

“We have 14, 15 guys that play all three ways and we have talent going from boundary to boundary,” Coach Basil said. “You go across our skill guys, we have good skill guys, they just never leave the field, and you wish they had a little more depth to be able to get these guys a spell and have them recover.”

Endurance and strength are built in the offseason. While you cannot control or predict injuries, this Thunderbirds squad made sure they came into the 2022 season ready for anything. Coach Basil called this team’s off-season workouts and lifting program “one of the best I’ve seen in my 20 years.”

The journey does not get much easier from here, as the Thunderbirds find themselves in a meeting with number one seed, undefeated Ansonia, in the first round of the Class S playoffs. Coach Basil knows his guys will need to play their best game of the season, but it is exactly what this group has been preparing for since those promising off-season workouts.

“They’re a powerhouse, we know what we’re up against,” said Coach Basil of facing Ansonia. “We’ve got to maximize our strengths in all areas and minimize any of our weaknesses. We’ll find ways to try and put ourselves in a leverage position to try and overcome the size that Ansonia has. Not only size, but they have the speed as well. We have our work cut out for us, but we have an idea of what needs to be done.”

Ansonia, like North Branford, is a very strong running football team. Coach Basil pointed to finding a way to slow them down on the ground as a key to the game. “[We’ve] been the more physical team on the field most games,” Coach Basil said. “But [our] off-season strength training program is going to be maxed out this week. We have to do our best, we have to be able to wrap and tackle…. Prove to [Ansonia] that you can stop them on the ground and then they’ll throw the ball.”

Basil added that “these guys have been committed and put a lot into the season. They have played hard through and through and overcome a lot of adversity. We are definitely better than what our record shows we just needed to stay healthy. Now we’re down to one game and we have most of our parts back…The guys are excited for it.”