New Canaan Football Makes Statement With Big Win Over St. Joe’s

All season long, the New Canaan Rams have been fighting for respect. After an opening day win over Hand, naysayers said the Tigers were down. After a homecoming win over Greenwich, detractors said the Cardinals were banged up. After last week’s demolition of Staples, we heard how the Wreckers were overrated.

After the way they played on Saturday against St. Joe’s, the haters are going to run out of excuses very soon.

In a game with huge FCIAC implications, New Canaan faced its biggest test of the season and passed with flying colors, dismantling the Cadets 41-14 at a rain-soaked Dalling Field in Trumbull.

“People underestimated us all year,” senior co-captain Alex LaPolice told NewCanaanite.com. “We came out an made a statement. I think it’s pretty clear that we’re ready to go and that in 2014 New Canaan is for real.”

The Rams outgained St. Joe’s 423 to 81, an incredible stat that at first glance looks like a misprint. New Canaan senior co-captain Frank Cognetta gained 200 yards on 34 carries with 2 touchdowns, easily outperforming his Cadet counterpart Mufasha Abdul-Basir. Meanwhile New Canaan’s defense–led by senior co-captain Zach Allen who had 2 sacks, 11 tackles and was constantly in the Cadet backfield–held the dangerous Abdul-Basir to just 59 yards on 15 carries.

“I think we made a statement in all three phases – offense, defense, special teams,” LaPolice said. “It was just a great day.”

The Rams showed their offensive depth in the first half as they jumped out to a 28-0 lead with touchdowns from four different players. New Canaan scored on the opening possession of the game as Cognetta capped off a 9-play, 76-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown run.

On the second play of the second quarter LaPolice put the Rams up 14-0 with a 1-yard dive. A little over two minutes later New Canaan extended its lead to 21-0 on a 34-yard pass from junior quarterback Mike Collins to classmate Kyle Smith. And with 18 seconds left in the half LaPolice floated an 8-yard TD pass to Allen, who was lined up at tight end, to make it 28-0 Rams at the half.

The Cadets took advantage of a couple of Rams miscues in the third quarter to briefly make a game of it. A muffed punt set St. Joe’s up at the New Canaan 15, and two plays later Lars Pederson hit Pat Battista for the first Cadets points of the game. After a 2-point conversion, the Rams held a 28-8 lead with 6:55 left in the quarter.

On the ensuing Rams possession, Collins was picked off by K’tory Cobb, who returned the interception to the New Canaan 8-yard line. Although the Rams defense forced a turnover on downs, the Rams were unable to gain any traction with field position, going three-and-out.

A poor punt out of the end zone and into the wind set St. Joe’s up at the Rams 18-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Pederson ran for a touchdown and all of a sudden St. Joe’s was back in the game, trailing 28-14.

“We have to clean things up,” New Canaan head coach Lou Marinelli said. “I think we are a better football team than we showed in the third quarter. But we have some weapons and were able to put it away.”

New Canaan began to turn the tide back in its favor with a long drive that took them to the fourth quarter. Although it ended with a missed 35-yard field goal, it gave the Rams defense some room to work with and they responded by forcing a three-and-out.

On the next offensive possession, the Rams surprised everyone – including the St. Joe’s secondary by eschewing the expected, choosing to pass on third-and-7 instead of running out the clock. Collins hit Smith in stride on a seam route for a back-breaking 36-yard touchdown and a 34-14 lead with 8:03 left to play.

After the Rams defense forced another St. Joe’s punt, Frank Cognetta raced untouched down the right sideline for a 31-yard touchdown, giving the Rams the 41-14 lead that held for the final score.

With the win, New Canaan improved to 7-0 and is set up on a collision course with arch-rival Darien–also undefeated at 8-0–for a possible FCIAC Championship matchup on Thanksgiving. That said, the Rams are looking to put Saturday’s big win over the Cadets in the rearview mirror while not looking past what lies directly ahead of them.

“There is no doubt that St. Joe’s is one of the best teams in the conference,” said Zach Allen, who added 2 sacks to bring his school record to 23.5. “But right now we have to focus on our next game against Wilton and prepare for Friday. “

“If we lose to Wilton, we lose to Trinity, it’s all shot,” Marinelli said. “We have to make sure we keep our focus and do what we have to do because we want to get back there. We want to defend our championship.”

New Canaan vs. St. Joe's - Nov. 1, 2014 at Trumbull, CT

The Rams take the field. Credit: Terry Dinan	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
New Canaan	7	21	0	13	41
St. Joe's	0	0	14	0	14

Scoring:

*NC – Frank Cognetta 11-yd. run (Swindell kick)
*NC – Alex LaPolice 1-yd. run (Swindell kick)
*NC – Mike Collins 34-yd. pass to Kyle Smith (Swindell kick)
*NC – LaPolice 8-yd. pass to Zach Allen (Swindell kick)
*SJ – Lars Pederson 15-yd. pass to Pat Battista (2-pt. conversion good)
*SJ – Pederson 18-yd. run (conversion failed)
*NC – Collins 46-yd. pass to Smith (conversion failed)
*NC – Frank Cognetta 31-yd. run (Swindell kick)

Key NC stats:

* Passing yards: NC - 210, SJ - 1
* First downs: NC - 16, SJ - 7
* Mike Collins: 10-20, 202 yards, 2 TD passing, 1 INT
* Alex LaPolice: 6-14, 1 TD rushing, 1-16 receiving, 2-22 punt returns, 1-1, 8 yards, 1 TD passing
* Kyle Smith: 3-90 receiving, 2 TD's
* Zach Allen: 11 tackles (3 for loss), 2 sacks, 2-23 receiving, 1 TD
* Sterling O'Hara: INT returned 84 yards, 4 tackles
* Frank Cognetta, 35-200 rushing, 2 TD's
* Cognetta moves past NC great Lem James for 7th place all-time career rushing in school history (1,992 yds. and counting)