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Darien defeated Stamford 42-7 in an FCIAC football game Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018 in Darien, Connecticut.Darien defeated Stamford 42-7 in an FCIAC football game Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018 in Darien, Connecticut.Photo: Matthew Brown, Hearst Connecticut Media
DARIEN — Coming off beating the No. 1 team in the state in St. Joseph last week and dealing with homecoming distractions this week, the Darien football team could have been excused if its focus was not razor-sharp heading into a contest with Stamford.
Losing focus is not really part of the Darien football mindset at this point.
Saturday, the Blue Wave came out on point, scoring on six of its first seven drives with the lone exception being the end of the half when they took a knee.
Otherwise the team kept all the momentum gained by beating St. Joseph, rolling over the Black Knights 42-7.
The Week 4 Football Scoreboard
“We couldn’t have mirrored the week of practice we had against St. Joe’s and I knew that. I just told them not to take step backwards this week. They took on that challenge and had a good week,” Darien coach Rob Trifone said. “Stamford is a talented team. Right now, they are struggling a little bit, but they still have big athletes over there.”
Darien scored twice in the first quarter, three more times in the second and once on the opening drive of the third quarter.
They did not punt until the starters were pulled in the fourth quarter.
Cooper Hancock threw a touchdown pass to Tyler Herget and another to Will Rolapp, while Andrew Lucas and Will Kirby each scored twice on the ground.
“(Darien) is big and strong, and they are sound and don’t make mistakes,” Stamford coach Jamar Greene said. “You can watch film and know what they are going to do, but knowing what they are going to do and stopping it are two different things.”
Lenny Garcia scored a touchdown for Stamford in the fourth quarter.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Connor Fay, Darien. Fay had two sacks and disrupted the Black Knights running and passing games all afternoon from his middle linebacker spot.
QUOTABLE
“We came in and we knew we were the better team, but we always respect the opponent,” Fay said. “We came into this game like we come into every game, treating it like it’s a state championship. We are not usually a first-half team, at all. Our goal today was to come out in the first half and be a first-half team and we were able to do that today.”
DARIEN 42, STAMFORD 7
STAMFORD 0 0 0 7—7
DARIEN 14 21 7 0—42
D—Tyler Herget 7 pass Cooper Hancock (Will Kirby kick)
D—Andrew Lucas 3 run (Kirby kick)
D—Will Kirby 4 run (Kirby kick)
D—Will Rolapp 16 pass Hancock (Kirby kick)
D—Kirby 1 run (Kirby kick)
D—Lucas 15 run (Kirby kick)
S—Lenny Garcia 2 run (Will Martinez kick)
Records: Darien 4-0; Stamford 1-3
What do you expect when darien pays a coach double what stamford high pays?!
Really? That is an old, incorrect, argument. Most coaches come from the ranks of teachers (PE or otherwise), and their coaches ‘pay’ is restricted by the teachers’ contract to a relatively small stipend. It’s a wonder anyone does it, given the level of aggravation that comes with the job. Pay discrepancies from coach to coach and school system to school system are relatively small, and have little to do with who coaches where.
Is there an elephant in the room with HS football in Fairfield County? That is, there are several very strong programs–New Canaan, Darien, Greenwich, St. Joe’s, Fairfield Prep, etc. and the rest are getting weaker, resulting in many embarrassing blow-outs? Can someone tell me why little Trinity Catholic, with under 200 boys in the entire school is playing New Canaan and Greenwich, both LL schools?? It’s not right, even dangerous. I realize numbers are down for football at many schools. Would like to hear ideas on what can and should be done.
Most Leagues could care less about the weaker teams.All they care about are their top teams and securing the easiest path to post season.One can almost pick 90% of winners in regards to top teams and their schedule.
Two years ago “little Trinity Catholic” went 8-1 in the FCIAC (losing only to Greenwich in the last minute), made it to the state playoffs where they got knocked out by Ansonia by a touchdown (Ansonias lowest win margin that year).
Westhill, Stamford, McMahon and Bridgeport all had 7-2 seasons fairly recently. Ridgefield started the current reign of FCIAC football by knocking West Haven out 2 years ago in the quarter finals. Staples was a machine for many years. Trumbull is tough every 5 years.
Darien was an “easy game” not so long ago.
In fact, the only true powerhouse over decades has been New Canaan.
So relax. The FCIAC knows what its doing. The other leagues should copy the FCIAC.
When have facts been important?
It’s like TC was given a “tier 2” schedule that year and they made the most of it. Didn’t beat any powerhouses and lost to the only ones they played.
That was the FCIAC’s version of tier.
And it’s going to get more and more like that.
Still waiting for Westhill’s two-loss season.
FACTS!
It’s called Bridegport “Central,” not just Bridgeport.
This further shows me you’re a rube.
Please don’t stop posting, GHS Fan.
You make me feel better about myself.
It wasn’t last year….it wasn’t even the year before that.
Love your FACTS. LOL
Morgan? It would have been embarrassing had Trinity Catholic lost to Morgan. TC lost to one of Greenwich’s worse teams in school history. TC did not beat play ANY of the top FCIAC teams that year.
What a hypocrite….he’s against the “tier” system, yet he touts TC’s record against a pseudo-tire 2 (or 3! schedule)
This guy GHS Fan should be a comedian.
Makes me laugh on a daily basis.
Facts are nice–Trinity was NOT 8-1 in the FCIAC two years ago…Regardless, still does not explain why a Class S school has (at least) two LL games scheduled. Makes no sense. Gap between “haves” and “have nots” is getting larger…
It was 2015.Trinity Catholic’s only loss was to a 5-5 Greenwich Team.They DID NOT play FCIAC Playoff Teams:St Joseph’s,Staples,New Canaan,Darien.They would have lost ALL 4 of those games handily and would have NOT advanced to play Ansonia in the S SemiFinals.So the 5th-6th best Team to lose by 9 points to an 10-0 Ansonia Team that their closest 2 Leagues games were 21 + 27 Points wins tells you all you need to know.
Both of you are correct.
As you can see, GHS Fan just types in what thinks and wants people to believe them as facts.
Good thing us diehards are here to speak the truth and set him straight.
Sorry. Three seasons ago. The rest of the facts are correct. How they would have done against teams they did not play is speculation .
Fact – TC played several FCIAC LL schools that season and did just fine.
Fact – TC beat Morgan – another 9-1 team – 40-12 in their playoff game.
OTF – I am not sure what point you are trying to make.
My point is that the FCIAC over time has demonstrated that a wide variety of teams have succeeded in the FCIAC, and if the team succeeds in the FCIAC, it will also succeed in the state tournament.
This is exactly what every league in the state should be striving to accomplish.
Calls for the FCIAC to drastically reconfigure their scheduling based on a half seasons results are therefore not only premature, but are also irrational.
TC is a young team. They will recover, and a couple of seasons from now we will be hearing about how “recruiting” gives them an unfair advantage. If I felt like it, I am certain I could look up comments from 2015 making this exact same unproven, and as it turns out, spurious allegation against TC. We are now seeing calls that TC has no business playing in the FCIAC.
Stop trying to screw up a league (FCIAC) that has shown it can send a wide diversity of schools to playoff tournament success.
In short, don’t screw with success. Imitate it.
What’s next? Westhill had a good team recently?
LOL…..
Forget this guy.
No facts.
As a matter of fact , 8 games into the season last year Westhill was 6-2, and in the hunt for a playoff spot. Not sure what happened versus Stamford and Wilton (I think they lost their stud).
Westhill was 6-4 last year. FACT.
We are all still waiting for your proof that..in your own words “Westhill went 7-2 recently.”
You just make things up OVER and OVER on here, and expect us diehard fans (who actually attend games) to believe what you post.
We refute everything you say with FCATS and yet you come back for more, and even tell us more “whoppers.”
Bless this guy. Thanks for the laughs.
The fact is that HS football is changing rapidly, nationally and locally, for many reasons. The strong are getting stronger. I do not see weaker programs getting better any time soon. The FCAIC is aware of the situation as next year they are forming a state alliance playing and the non-divisional game against like-ability opponents in the state to try to have competitive games. A step in the right direction. These blow-outs are not good for anybody. They sure don’t bring more kids to the sport.
Correct.
The FCIAC brass is FULLY aware of the blowouts. They have said they are taking measures. It has already begun, to a small extent. Future schedules will improve for EVERYBODY in the league for competitive balance; a la the SCC Tier system.
The principals and AD’s have heard the complaints. Much needed changes are coming.
Kudos to the FCIAC for acknowledging this and planning appropriately for the future.