Suffocating Defensive Spells Doom for Darien Blue in Quarterfinals

The NC 3rd Grade Red  football squad has not allowed a point in the last 14 quarters, shutting out on a Darien team 16-0 that had beaten NC soundly earlier in the season.

The swarming defense of Maddox Underwood, Jack Murphy, Harry Appelt, Griffin Koch, Henry Cannon, Jack Connors, Johnny Dunn, Nicholas Radman, Mac MacHale, Ben Marshall, Christopher Canet, Jackson Lamorte, Bryce Harrell, Will Thomas, Cory Pickering, Aidan Blair, and Tommy Towers should all be recognized for their consistent execution all day long. Coach Koch is now being compared to Rex Ryan for his motivation and innovative defensive schemes that have left the last 3 opponents shaking their heads. After stopping Darien on 3 straight plays to start game, NC took over at midfield.

Offensive line play again was superb: Jackson Slazyk, Griffin Koch, Jack Connors, Dylan Kortman, Nicholas Radman, Jackson Lamorte and center Charlie Borthwick (who played an extremely clean game at center) opened up gaping holes that the three headed monster of Hayden Shin, Chris Canet, and Tommy Towers to overwhelm the Darien Blue. After Chris Canet rumbled down to the 1, Tommy Towers went in untouched for the games first score. Chris Canet then eluded two defenders to put NC up 8-0 with 3:24 left in Q1.

On Daren's second possession, Harry Appelt and Henry Cannon combined on 8 yard sack on first down. Dariens only threat of the day was thwarted when Griffin Koch made a TD saving tackle on the next play. The ensuing hand off was fumbled and an opportunistic Henry Cannon jumped on to give NC the ball back at the 37 yard line with 15 seconds left in Q1.

Unfortunately, NC turned the ball back to Darien, but Maddox Underwood, Nicholas Radman, and Mac MacHale teamed up for 3 yard loss. Another 3 yard loss had Jack Murphy, Griffin Koch, and Ben Marshall all in on tackle. On pivotal 4th and 5, Chris Canet made huge solo stop that made it clear this was a different team that the team Darien beat earlier this season.

Similar to past games, Hayden Shin then pounded away at the mmidsection of Darien D by grinding out 5 yard gain after gain breaking tackles. It seemed like Darien needed 4-5 guys just to bring him down. On 4th and 12, Tommy Towers went 16 yards and with a facemask penalty, NC had the ball on the Darien 20. After a couple more Hayden Shin runs up the gut, Tommy Towers scored NCs second TD with sweet cutback. Chris Canet made it 16-0 with 50 seconds remaining in half,  stutter stepping by 2 defenders and danced in to end zone.

The second half was more of the same, suffocating defense, superb line play and steady grinding offense. In desperation, Darien attempted to throw the ball more in the second half, but Johnny Dunn and Jack Murphy made sure this tactic would not work either. Maddox Underwood and Henry Cannon showed relentless pursuit, while Dylan Kortman pressured Darien O into many mistakes. 

They say defense wins championships and with this team firing on all cylinders, I wouldn't want to be top seeded Wilton who is next up Sat 4pm at Wilton HS in the semis for this always improving inspiring squad.