Black is Back: New Canaan 4th Grade Black Football Beats Wilton

After scoring only 6 points in a Week 1 loss to Wilton White, the fans who braved the rain last Saturday at Water Tower Turf Field assumed it would simply be a matter of time before the New Canaan Black 4’s offense would wake up.

They just probably didn’t think it would happen so soon…or so often.

New Canaan (1-1) scored a touchdown on its fifth offensive play of the game and never looked back on the way to a decisive 32-21 win over the Wilton Blue 4’s (1-1).

After the defense held Wilton to a 3-and-out on the game’s first series, New Canaan quarterback Ty Groff scored the Black 4’s first touchdown, following the great block of center Colin Perkins for a 1-yard plunge and a 6-0 lead. Perkins had a career-defining game, not only snapping the ball flawlessly in adverse conditions, but also contributing several touchdown-saving tackles in extended action on defense.

New Canaan would extend the lead after the defense held Wilton to another punt. Solid tackles from A.J. Bell, Tucker Milligan and Brendan Hagan set New Canaan up with ideal field position at the Wilton 35-yard line. Running back Eoin Mueller then followed up a highlight-reel 27-yard run with a 3-yard reverse. Griffin Gentner tacked on a 2-yard run for an extra point conversion to give New Canaan a quick 13-0 lead.

The Black 4’s would add to their lead on their first offensive series of the 2^nd quarter. Running behind the blocks of Devon Christian, Cooper Dinan and Reese Hanrattie, New Canaan lulled the Wilton defense into moving up their secondary. This set up a perfectly-executed Groff pass to tight end Holden Busby, putting the ball at the Wilton 7. Three plays later, Henry Garrity took a reverse into the end zone for a 20-0 New Canaan lead.

Wilton was able to get on the scoreboard on their next series with a long TD run by Spencer “Don’t Call Me Sonny” Liston, but New Canaan was able to counterpunch immediately. With Jack Hladick and Jason Pastushan providing excellent protection, Groff was able to hit Busby for another big gain. Mueller then took a handoff 20 yards to the end zone, and the Black 4’s had a 26-6 lead.

Not content to rest on their laurels, the New Canaan defense held Wilton again. Will Larson and Ben Bo made huge tackles to give New Canaan the ball back with just enough time for one play before halftime.

And what a play it was.

With time expiring, Groff dropped back and threw a strike to Mueller, who was running down the left sideline. Mueller caught the pass and faked out three Wilton defenders for a back-breaking 25-yard TD and a 32-6 halftime lead.

New Canaan spent the majority of the second half grinding out chunks of yards on the ground. Nice runs by Bell, Larson and Matthew Cutler helped New Canaan knock significant time off the clock. Meanwhile the defense, led by Peter Cieszko, Flynn Coffey and Dom “The Dominator” Rasso kept Wilton at bay, allowing only two garbage-time scores that did little other than make the score look closer than the game actually was.

“We played error free football,” New Canaan head coach Jason Milligan said. “They hustled to the football on defense and blocked extremely well on offense. Our boys should be proud of themselves.”

The NC 4's beat Wilton at a rainy Water Tower Field. (Diane Rasso photo)	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Wilton	0	6	0	14	20
New Canaan	13	19	0	0	32

Scoring:

*NC – Groff 1-yd. run (conversion failed)
*NC – Mueller 3-yd. run (conversion good)
*NC – Garrity 6-yd. run (conversion failed)
*W – Liston 60-yd. run (conversion failed)
*NC – Mueller 20-yd. run (conversion failed)
*NC – Mueller 25-yd. pass from Groff (conversion good)
*W – Liston 25-yd. run (conversion good)
*W – Liston 7-yd. run (conversion good)