East Hampton-Vinal Falls to Coginchaug

For East Hampton-Vinal Tech, it was an example of the growing pains a new varsity program is bound to go through. For Coginchaug, it was a display of how good they can be.

Coginchaug's Alec Corazzini had touchdown runs of 36 and 35 yards in the first half and the Blue Devils defense did not allow a first down in a 28-0 victory over East Hampton-Vinal Tech on a windy Saturday afternoon in Durham.

EHVT’s inability to generate any offense put pressure on its defense and gave Coginchaug excellent field position throughout the game.

“We felt pretty good coming in defensively,” Coginchaug coach John Bozzi said. “We had their schemes figured out and knew who we wanted to be where and the defense did exactly what they were supposed to. I don’t even know if they had any positive yards. I’d be surprised if they had any positive yards.”

The Blue Devils won the toss and deferred, electing to kick off and take the wind at their back.

The strategy immediately paid off, at least with field position.

After holding EHVT on its first series, the Blue Devils took over at the BellHawks 35-yard line. However, the drive stalled at the 21. Coginchaug chose to go for it on fourth down anyway. Facing a fourth-and-13 after a 5-yard offsides, quarterback Tyler Meeker threw an incomplete pass into the end zone.

After holding EHVT to another three-and-out, Coginchaug broke through. Corazzini had consecutive runs of 17 and 36 yards, the second for a touchdown, to give the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead.

Coginchaug took over again, this time at its 46, but had to punt after fumbling in the backfield for a 15-yard loss.

It wouldn’t be long before the Blue Devils got another shot on offense, this time after forcing EHVT to punt out of its end zone.

The result was Coginchaug ball at the EHVT 35.

“We didn’t have the field position so we could set anything up,” EHVT coach Joe Cefaratti said. “Kind of put the defense in a hole a few times. You can’t keep the defense on the field the whole time.”

The Blue Devils wasted no time, scoring on a 35-yard touchdown run by Corazinni for a 14-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Coginchaug put together a lengthier drive starting from its 37. Facing a fourth-and 3 at their 44, the Blue Devils gambled and kept the drive alive after Tyler Doherty ran for 9 yards and a first down. On the next play, Meeker hit Ethan Donecker on a 28-yard pass to the EHVT 19-yard line. However, the drive bogged down and the Blue Devils were forced to try a field goal into the wind, which they missed.

On its next series, Coginchaug again got the ball in EHVT’s end of the field. Starting at the 47, the Blue Devils drove to the 18-yard line from where Meeker hit Donecker for a touchdown pass. The extra-point try was missed but the lead was 20-0 heading into halftime.

“Bottom line is, I don’t think we had it coming off the ball today and that’s the bottom line,” Cefaratti said. “They had it coming off the ball and we didn’t.”

Coginchaug got the ball to start the second half and resorted to a little trickery on its first play. The play started as an end-around reverse, but the ball was pitched back to Donecker who threw it downfield for a 65-yard catch and run to the 3-yard line. Meeker took it in from their on a 1-yard run and a 26-0 lead. A two-point conversion made it 28-0.

And that was the end of the scoring, though Coginchaug had two touchdowns negated by penalties during the same series late in the game.

The BellHawks defense stiffened and helped create four turnovers, including interceptions by Lorenzo Ramirez and Alex Seppa, in the second half to keep Coginchaug off the scoreboard.

The interception by Ramirez gave EHVT its best field position of the game at the Coginchaug 42, but the BellHawks turned the ball over on downs on a fourth-and-12 incompletion.

As the Blue Devils (4-0) move into the tougher part of their schedule with games against North Branford, Valley Regional and Cromwell looming, Bozzi isn’t looking beyond next week.

“We have Old Saybrook on Saturday, that’s as far as we’re looking,” he said. “We work each week to get better. We work each week to improve and that’s what we’re going to do next week.”

EHVT (1-4) next plays at North Branford (3-1).

“We got to pick it up and come back again next Friday,” Cefaratti said.

The game Saturday became a bit subdued with 8:20 remaining when BellHawks defender Dan Scarlett sustained a serious ankle injury and was taken off the field on a stretcher and into an awaiting ambulance. It is the second week in a row EHVT has had a player taken off the field on a stretcher. Last week against Haddam-Killingworth, Ryan Gillespie was injured. The good news is Gillespie was back on the sideline Saturday, though he did not dress for the game.

Coginchaug 28, East Hampton-Vinal Tech 0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

COG

14

  6

  8

  0

- 28

EHVT

  0

  0

  0

  0

-   0

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Cog: Alec Corazzini 36-yard run. Sam Baker kick. 5:55.

Cog: Corazinni 35-yard run. Baker kick. :27

Second Quarter

Cog: Tyler Meeker 18-yard pass to Ethan Donecker. Kick failed. 1:20.

Third Quarter

Cog: Meeker 1-yard run. Two-point conversion good. 10:43.