Morgan Football Defeats Old Saybrook-Westbrook in Turkey Week Tussle

Within the Morgan soccer crew’s 32-14 victory over Outdated Saybrook-Westbrook on Nov. 23, junior Tyler Baldwin completed with three whole touchdowns, two passing and one receiving, whereas throwing for 213 yards. Photograph by Wesley Bunnell/Harbor Information

The Morgan and Outdated Saybrook-Westbrook (OS-W) soccer groups met on Nov. 23 for the squads’ annual Thanksgiving week conflict. The Huskies prevailed with a 32-14 victory at Outdated Saybrook Excessive Faculty to complete their season marketing campaign 3-7 general and 3-5 within the Sassacus Division of the Pequot Convention, whereas the Rams concluded their 2022 season at 0-10.

OS-W did get issues transferring within the opening phases of the showdown and have been capable of finding the top zone, but the Huskies have been capable of cost again on the Rams and stuff their floor sport.

“It was nice to exit with a win on the finish of the yr,” mentioned Morgan Head Coach Kevin Sullivan on his crew’s triumph. “It was additionally nice to ship off the seniors with a win on Thanksgiving. Early on, they [OS-W] stored us slightly off steadiness and put factors on the board. We had hassle stopping the run early, however then we made massive stops later.”

Within the first quarter, the Rams fired the opening shot with a 7-0 lead by way of a 33-yard landing rush and they’d carry the command getting into the second.

Junior Casey Corrigan then reduce the Morgan deficit to 1 after a 20-yard scoring scamper and failed two-point conversion. Later within the body, OS-W took a 14-6 edge due to a 4-yard TD sprint for what ended up being the hosts’ remaining factors of the evening.

Morgan went to intermission up 20-14 when junior Tyler Baldwin fired a 33-yard scoring strike to Jack Nye after which the 2 related on the following two-point play. Then, senior captain Jake Caprio made it a six-point contest after hauling in a 24-yard TD reception from Baldwin.

The Huskies then added a 5-yard TD dash from Baldwin within the third and a 1-yard landing sprint from Corrigan for the fourth as they cruised to the 18-point choice.

The Huskies outgained the Rams 370-273 in whole yards. Baldwin completed the day 13-of-18 passing with 213 yards by way of the air. He additionally added 30 dashing yards with eight makes an attempt. On the bottom, Corrigan rushed for 128 yards on 16 carries. Within the receiving division, Nye was the main ball hawk–flattening six receptions for 104 yards. Defensively, Corrigan and senior Aidan Staunton every had a sack.

Sullivan recommended his membership for being able to tackle new challenges in numerous roles on the sector, because the Huskies needed to develop their very own depth at varied positions because of the low variety of returning gamers.

“As a bunch, we didn’t have lots of expertise coming again this yr,” mentioned Sullivan. “For the children that did return, they needed to study new positions. We simply targeting getting higher every week. They hit bumps within the highway, however they did job of battling again. They stored attempting to enhance and by no means hung their heads. From seeing them in follow on daily basis, they completed a greater crew than the one they have been in August.”

Morgan boasted solely 9 seniors this fall. Nonetheless, they made up for the small veteran numbers with gigantic dedication and coronary heart in serving to the younger Huskies mature each collectively and individually as time wore on.

“That they had rather a lot on their shoulders, however the seniors did an ideal job,” Coach Sullivan said. “We misplaced Chris Carmona to a knee harm for a number of weeks. Luis Mendez stepped up massive time, and he by no means as soon as complained. We had a senior lineman in Luke Bellinger who went each methods on the road and was nice. Aidan Staunton was massive for us on protection. Our captain Jake Caprio was one in every of our mainstays at security. He did an ideal job getting us lined up, and he additionally made nice performs on offense. The seniors did an ideal job of main the crew and making ready the opposite guys for the long run.”

Within the common season, Morgan scored wins over Haddam-Killingworth (H-Ok) (30-23), Coginchaug/Hale-Ray/East Hampton (58-39), and the Rams (32-14). The Huskies took defeats whereas going up towards Cromwell-Portland (41-0), Valley Regional-Outdated Lyme (48-0), Capital Prep-Achievement (35-28), Rockville (54-14), Granby-Canton (38-22), Ellington (48-28), and North Branford (55-14).

“We solely had three wins, however a win is a win,” Coach Sullivan mentioned. “We opened up with a troublesome Cromwell crew that was a defending state champ. We have been lucky to get that win towards H-Ok, a crew that simply narrowly missed the playoffs. We jumped out to an early lead and held on. We hit a lull and misplaced a troublesome one to Capital Prep, however then we had an ideal sport towards Coginchaug. It was nice to see the children make strides offensively in that one. We had a troublesome schedule; 5 of the ten groups made the playoffs and 7 of the ten have been in playoff rivalry getting into the ultimate week. To complete the yr with a win was superior.”

Morgan could have been quick on wins, although they scored main crew triumphs by rising as a younger group and planting the blueprint to assemble even greater successes within the close to future.

“I really feel fortunate sufficient to teach these seniors and see what they’ve accomplished to construct a basis for a profitable program,” Sullivan mentioned. “Simply being round these children and serving to them develop was what was profitable for this yr.”

The 2022 Morgan roster was comprised of seniors in Caprio, Seamus Staunton, Mendez, Aidan Staunton, Christopher Carmona, Nathan Schumann, Alex Smith, Christopher Dowd, Bellinger; juniors of John Nye, Jacob Jones, Tyler Baldwin, Ross Treubig, Casey Corrigan, Hayden Walter; sophomores with Luke McComiskey, Dominic Larabee, Hunter Roth, Griffin Ranaudo, Tyshawn Davis, Carson Dowd, Tyler Farrell, Mason Jakober, Logan Ryan; and eventually a freshman class of Christian Jacobs-Harris, Johnnie Alexander, Andrew Brown, Jaden Cartagena, Drew Cyr, Nicholas Maenza, Greyson Simes-Vandersloot, Jaidyn Hills, Chayton Kattermann, John Collins, and Jake Beermuender. Sullivan was assisted on the sidelines this fall with coaches John Bozzi and Jimmy Lewis.

Making up the roster for the Rams’ 2022 squad have been senior captains Carson Percival, Vinnie Naccarato, Jake Pavlovich, and Alex Barros; fellow seniors of Felipe DaMoura, Reilly Peterson, Joanna Kelly, Josh Kapp, Brendan Novajosky, Joey Donohue, John Witczak; juniors in Zach Taylor, Holden Lemire, Bardh Tharci, Nick Novorio, Ben Freeburg, Aidan Ladd, Juan Vieyra; sophomores of Brandon Hester, Wesley Percival, Ethan Lane, Tyler Fineza, Dominic DeNovellis, Timothy Bollmann, Mateo Guillen; and freshmen with Wyatt Pennington, Dante Vieyra, Luke Surmanis, Finn Velocity, Tim Ferraina, and Jason Lee. Head Coach Clay Hillyer’s assistant coaches for OS-W this season have been Mike Pantages and Jacob Bridges.