Sam Stoner, Sports Editor
@sstonercourant
On Friday, November 6, the Rams football team took on the Trumbull Golden Eagles for what was expected to be the team’s most challenging opponent so far. The Golden Eagles were 6-1 at the start of the game, and had proven their skill by beating the Greenwich Cardinals earlier in the season. However, the predicted close game turned out to be a 69-26 win for the Rams as quarterback Mike Collins tied and broke multiple records.
Collins finished the game with a total of nine touchdowns tying the state record for most touchdowns in a single game. With this, he also broke the school record for most touchdowns in a single game, and put himself one touchdown behind Matt Milano’s school record of 42 touchdowns in a season. He also broke another NCHS record with his 76th touchdown of his career, breaking Milano’s record of 75. These nine touchdowns were caught by a variety of players on the team, and were made possible due to the 4 interceptions made during the defenses strong game.
The game started with an opening drive touchdown by Markeese Woods of Trumbull who gave his team a 7-0 lead. However, this was the only time the Eagles would get on the board during the first quarter. Matt Cognetta quickly put up 6 on the second snap of the New Canaan’s first drive. The following drive, Mike Cognetta picked off Trumbull’s quarterback John Mcelroy giving the Rams the ball in the red zone, setting up another touchdown by Thomas
Williams.
The 14-7 lead increased to 34-7 by the end of the first quarter as Collins threw four of his nine touchdown passes. In the second quarter following a 20 yard touchdown by Kyle Smith, Markeese Woods scored his second touchdown of the game making the score 41-14. After the touchdown, Trumbull recovered an onside kick but Mcelroy threw an interception giving New Canaan the ball at Trumbull’s own 15 yard line.
After the interception, Collins connected with Mike Cognetta to put the ball on the five yard line. However, Trumbull got one of their own interceptions and returned it for a large gain. The Golden Eagles were unable to take advantage of the turnover, forcing them to punt and setting up a 56 yard touchdown pass to Peter Swindell with 1:43 left in the half. After the touchdown, the half ended with a score of 48-14 Rams.
In the third quarter, the Rams picked up 21 points from Collins’s last 3 touchdowns, wrapping up his record breaking 9 touchdowns on the night. His last was a 32 yard pass to Andrew Jahns which made the final score 69-26, as neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
The Rams finished with a total of 10 touchdowns for the win, increasing their record to a perfect 7-0. The team’s next game is Friday, November 13 against Fairfield Ludlowe at 7:00 in Fairfield, and their final game is against Darien at Darien High School on Thursday, November 26 at 10:30 am.
