Middletown sophomore linebacker Sal Fazzino fights off New London defensemen in the CIAC Class L quarterfinal game Tuesday night at Rosek-Skubel Stadium at MHS. The Middletown Blue Dragons defeated the New London Whalers 49-14. Number 4 Middletown (11-1) will play #1 Darien (11-1) Saturday at Pomperaug. Catherine Avalone – The Middletown Press
Middletown junior quarterback Dario R. Highsmith, Jr. acknowledges his teammates and fans following their 49-14 win over New London in the CIAC Class L quarterfinal game at Rosek-Skubel Stadium at MHS. Catherine Avalone – The Middletown Press
MIDDLETOWN >> No question Middletown was ready for this one.
In early November, New London upset the Blue Dragons and in the process, ruined an undefeated season. Middletown very much wanted a second chance at the Whalers and Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Class L state championship playoffs, the Blue Dragons got their wish.
They made the most of it.
Behind an offense that piled up more than 400 yards, Middletown crushed New London 49-14 in front of a crowd of 2,000 at Rosek-Skubel Stadium to advance to a semifinal round game Saturday at Pomperaug High School (2 p.m.) against No. 1 Darien. (11-1). The Blue Wave defeated Hand, 31-29.
In the other Class L semifinal, New Canaan, which beat Farmington 46–0, will play North Haven, which beat Platt 35-0.
“This was the most important win in my three years at Middletown High,” said quarterback Dario Highsmith, who ran for 206 yards on 29 carries, scored three touchdowns and threw for another. “This was a chance to get revenge and to get to within two games of a state championship.”
Isaiah Thompkins, who is a star on defense, saw more action at running back this night than in any game this season. He carried the ball 12 times for 78 yards and scored the Dragons’ first touchdown.
“I had to prepare all week to carry the ball,” said Thompkins. “I took a lot of reps. This was was amazing. I remember the feeling when we lost to them and to have a great win like this is everything.”
MIddletown took it to No. 5 New London (9-3) from the beginning. After Hunter Belzo returned the opening kickoff 34 yards to the 50-yard line, MHS drove the required 50 yards in 12 plays with Thompkins capping the drive by scoring from the 1-yard line with 8:06 left in the first. With Van Uk’s kick – he was seven-for-seven – MHS led 7-0.
The Blue Dragons (11-1) took a 14-0 lead with 1:50 to go in the first when Highsmith capped a six-play, 60-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. MHS took a 21-0 halftime lead on Highsmith’s second touchdown – he later had a 71-yard TD called back on a holding call – when he ran 23 yards for a score with 5:45 left in the half.
“(Highsmith)should be on the top level of any all-state team,” said New London coach Daune Maranda. “Whatever they ask him to do, he does and does it perfectly. He is hard to tackle, he’s slippery and I don’t care if they have to put four quarterbacks on the all-state team, he has to be there.”
Middletown junior quarterback Dario R. Highsmith, Jr. clears New London’s Tremell Scott in the CIAC Class L quarterfinal game Tuesday night at Rosek-Skubel Stadium at MHS. The Middletown Blue Dragons defeated the New London Whalers 49-14. Number 4 Middletown (11-1) will play #1 Darien (11-1) Saturday at Pomperaug. Catherine Avalone – The Middletown Press
That TD was set up by a 48-run by Thompkins to the New London 30.
New London scored on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Danny Maranda to Troy Gray with 6:59 to go in the third quarter to cut the lead to 21-7.
Then the Blue Dragons staged a drive that sealed the deal.
“That drive won the game,” said Middletown coach Sal Morello. “We put together a six-minute drive to take a 28-7 lead and that won the game. They got some momentum with their touchdown, but our kids responded.”
The drive was smash-mouth football and was a drive in which Middletown overcame a 10-yard holding penalty. MHS ran the ball 12 times on the 65-yard drive with Highsmith scoring from the 6-yard line with 1:07 left in the third.
“We were feeling pretty good about ourselves after we scored,” said Maranda. “But we couldn’t stop them. They blew us off the ball all night long. In the second half, it seemed like we didn’t have the ball at all.”
Immediately after that touchdown, Middletown got a fumble recovery – MHS won the turnover battle 4-0 – on the kickoff return and on first down, Highsmith hit Cody Carrillo for a 33-yard touchdown and with 49 seconds left in the third, MHS had this one on ice, 35-7.
The Dragons got a 32-yard TD from Sal Fazzino (5 carries, 55 yards) with 8:16 to go, and a 13-yard TD run by sub-quarterback Austin Meeker with 6:53 left to take a 49-7 lead.
New London got a cosmetic touchdown with 1:38 remaining on a 49-yard run by Jose Garcia.
“I thought we played very well,” said Morello. “Our offensive line did a great, great job opening up holes all night long. I thought we might have a game like this because I saw the focus in our kids the last four or five days.”
It is the first home playoff win in school history. In the Blue Dragons’ three state championship years, no team played home games. It is also only the third time in school history an MHS team has won 11 games.
MHS had 375 yards rushing on 55 carries and Highsmith threw for 38 more on a 3-for-6 performance. New London had 289 yards offense, but only 102 on the ground and just 15 yards on the ground in the second half until that late 49-yard run. Maranda was 12-for-28 for 187 yards. He was intercepted twice.
That the way to go Middletown that how you handle your business Mr B who do the ranking I don’t understand how all of them team can loss but still stay on top of teams that win Middletown cannot get any RESPECT
can we get a interpreter ?
I think you meant “an interpreter”, Ray. There are far worse crimes than incorrect grammar on a message board, but If you’re going to knock someone’s else’s you should probably make sure yours is correct.
Where’s the ‘like’ button?
All good, save the comma after the quotation marks. The point is definitely memorable. Touché!
Play X on T day and you r not even in
Okay, here we go again. Another X parent that wants to talk ill about the MHS kids. Get over it, this team is a good team and last night was a great example of what they can do minus the penalties. Stout defense, probaly best front seven in the state, great running game, good special teams….. What more do you need?
MHS we are proud of you!!!!!
Kahona:
Xavier does not have the onions to play Middletown when the balance of power swings the other way.
What do I mean? MHS was willing to take its lumps the last few years. But as soon as the MHS program is on the up swing, Xavier is nowhere to be found.
Similar to the 80s, after Larry McHugh retired from coaching, Xavier was dying a slow death and Middletown was the Program in town (and in the State). Xavier was not willing to play Middletown until the 90s after head coach John Skubel retired and Middletown was in decline. Sound familar.
1. I’m fairly certain Kahona is not an X parent seeing as how they’ve been openly supporting N Haven, so not sure were that came from.
And 2. It’s literally hilarious to me, and most likely the rest of the state, to think that X is afraid of playing MHS. What’s to be afraid of? They have a 12-3 record against them! Give me a break.
It just goes to show, Middletown is playing New Canaan (most likely the best team they will face all year) this weekend in their biggest game in years, and you guys are still concerned with trying to look better than X. Overcompensate much?
Whether you believe it or not, most of the X community is rooting for MHS to win. So good luck against New Canaan guys, you’re really gonna need it.
*Meant Darien
No one is concerned with X. I can tell you that 90% of the X players and parents that rant and rave on this do not want to see MHS do well. This mentailty that X is so much better than MHS is a joke. Both are good schools with great programs. I am man enough to say it. I don’t speak ill of X but I can’t stand the need neysayers that put MHS kids down. How many kids onn the cuurent X vasity team played youth football in Middletown? Exactly, the MHS kids have all played together for many years and I am proud of them no matter what the outcome of any future games.
10-1 is a hell of record but I can see us winning it all. Jus win baby!!!!
JR – I was mostly responding to D-Money, but now that I have your attention too, many of your posts begin with “Must be another X parent”. So either you are for some reason very concerned with Xavier, or you just don’t know how to respond to a hater. You say you’re not concerned and I have no reason to call you a liar, so I suggest you find some new material because there’s an entire state full of haters out there that aren’t X.
Seriously though, good luck this weekend. 10-1 is a hell of a record, you have a great team, and Highsmith one of the most exciting players in the state to watch. I don’t doubt MHS, I do, however, doubt the CCC as a whole seeing as how they haven’t had much success against the SCC/FCIAC in recent years.
I agree Steph, boys played well last night… I like the Darian match up. They are big up front but I think the speed and power of MHS front seven Defense will get to the Darien QB as they did last night….
Call it like I see it, everyone in my experience that has been on this talking smack about MHS has been folks from the X. The Middletown TEAM is good and has several big play backs. We were saving Tompkins for the playoffs….
And yes we can pass the play:)
All this Middletown smack might force me to violate my theory on picking which playoff game to go see. My theory has 8 letters: “SCC/FCIAC”.
But the Middletown smack is way above their second rate CCC conference. Middletown’s only decent win was only 21-7 victory against a Farmington team who was waxed last night by the FCIAC’s New Canaan 46-0.
Might just go to Southbury…
I guess New London, BE are not good? We (MHS) best 3 potiental playoff teams. No on thought Darien would beat NC which changed everything in the playoff race.
I just lost all respect for Middletown’s school system. Writing “someone’s else’s” is incorrect grammar. However, children in elementary school write at a much higher level than Stephen Outlaw. Stephen Outlaw not only made me think less of all Middletown students, but probably lowered the IQ of everyone else on this message board. We all tend to make grammatical/spelling errors on message boards but I hope to god English is a new language to Stephen or we will all be supporting him very shortly.
You are an idiot, period!
If you want to know which are the top 3 schools in the state:
1) Darien
2) Conard
3) Weston
These are the top ranked schools from an academic standpoint. They concentrate on what really matters (and that’s a lot more than football).
Coming from the kid who thinks Middletown has the best front 7 in the state… May I ask what colleges are recruiting them? I personally think New Canaan is slightly overrated (weak cornerback/safety) but they are better at all defensive lineman positions. Before you post make sure you actually watch some film!
When I see a team run on Middletown, then I will agree their defense may be over rated. But it has not yet happened in 2013.
Mooncake, FYI, Middletown vs Farmington is a rivalry that goes back to the seventies, so a 21 – 7 score may reflect this.
However, Middletown had 2 TDs called back against Farmington, and Farmington’s lone score came after 3 concecutive defensive penalties against the MHS defense. Otherwise, Farmington would have been shut out.
I watch a ton of film, I can say Wagner, UCONN, Southern , Central, Maine, UMASS , I can go on with the schools that have recruited a few of the boys from MHS. I didn’t say NC was not good. I can tell you that I personally have watched a ton of film on Darien and NC since the playoffs were annouced including the D versus Hand game last night thank you to CPTV. Thank you for YouTube, CPTV & Hudl :)
If MHS plays well enough to beat D I look forward to seeing the NC D-line go against the MHS O-Line in the finals. By the way I am am adult :)
T
I cannot divulge my source, but in know a big ten school has contacted the Middleown coaching staff about the two big brothers, and Highsmith will most likely play D-1 like his father. Who on NC or Darien has D-1 potential?
The big boys have been looked at by many schools. Two full rides currently on the table.
Omg, darn spellcheck on the IPhone……
Oh by the way, who has the top defense in the state? Hmmmmm?
Flying under the radar, love it!
Sorry guys, but I’m calling for the Western half of the state to prevail at Arute. With the exception of St Joes. The VROL Warriors are gonna be the sleeper team of this year, tho that sounds like a wrong description of them.
Ridgefield
NC
VROL
Ansonia
Boo, just kidding,
I hope you have MHS against NC in the finals at least?
Once again to all Middletown fans that will listen:
Darien does not like, in fact they hate, running the ball. None of us will find out if someone can run against Middletown this weekend. Darien will throw it 85% of the time. If they lead in the 4Q they still throw it 60% of the time.
Are your dbacks and LBs ready for this? You will need interceptions and you will get opportunities to have them. Must contain their pass.
Funny, I was just telling my sons this. It seems that they have two receivers that are pretty good. Seems like you can run against them. Thoughts?
Mooncake
Darien better score, as Middletown’s running game has allowed them to control the clock and games all year. The problem for Darien, is Middltown’s defense has not allowed many points all year. Also, Middletown is big, athletic and fast on both sides of the ball.
You must me a MHS parent, I am watching Hand vs. Darien and Hand is controlling the LOS. Also, many deflected passes by Hand, ends are not that tall. Middletown needs to pressure this QB. Does not like pressure!
JR, Middletown’s starting DEs are 6 feet seven inches. May be an opportunity to deflect Darien passes.
That’s what I was thinking watching the film, Darien throws allot. I can see the DLine as well as Homar and Dario having a big game on D.
@JR,
you mentioned you watched the game (?)
I was there @McMahon for the entire game and have to admit I was rooting for Hand but they were definetly not controlling the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball, which is why they couldn’t run up the middle and why Wyper had ample time to search for receivers. The wheels of van Dell were the Tigers biggest asset last night.
Hand was far from controlling the LOS on either side of the ball. Hand couldn’t run up the gut and the QB had tons of time most plays.
Watching the game as we speak, this game could have went either way. 90 is there best DLineman, 5 is there best defensive player. This game had allot of fluke plays. Tiger def did run against D. Does anyone have the stats for the game?
37 carries for 156 yards with one 54 yard touchdown on a sweep. BTW, 90 has 14 sacks and 96 tackles on the season.
I am watching the D vs Hand game for about the 10th time, I just don’t see it. Unless D is much bigger and faster in person I do not see a dominate team. The QB does not like pressure and they run a spread with quick slants mixing in a screen here and there. Not much of a running game, anyone watch D play? Can you share some input on this team?
offense – highly disciplined, big enough, bit of a mean streak and never take a play off. if you do ? zip, right past you and TD.
defense – bad ass DL, highly disciplined LBs and secondary. good on both run and pass defense.
special teams – like a college team good. pin you deep. always gets points in the red-zone.
coaching – solid, with streaky risk taking potential – don’t snooze or …
Middletown can’t lose its cool or take any plays off.
Thanks for the insight, the OLine does look wide and plays with a good base for pass protection. It should be a good game, football is a game of inches. I look forward to seeing both teams play.
I cannot wait to this Saturday let’s say around 5 pm this will be all over. Mhs your not even a top team in your conference Southingtin and glastonbury are MUCH better You know the teams you don’t play lol. East Lyme lmfao Your Super Bowl was beating new London I remember clearly last year after you lost to a god awful mask team know one wrote anything on this blog. You guys have to make some noise in the post season firs. typical middletown! good luck with basketball first game this year against east hartford blowout
James, your do not know Jack … about football. Have you ever played?
Thanks James for your support!
Who said NL was our Superbowl?
You? Def not MHS, the goal is a state championship. No one is taking smack other than people like you that want to see MHS lose. We lost to a good awful Masuk team? You are full of compliments…..
What was there record? Windsor played Hand in the Championship.
MHS did lose to Windsor but to say that MHS sucks, you are speaking from emotion rather than football knowledge! Another Hater in the house. Such angry people’s on this blog :)
Oh by the way x pounded hand three weeks ago. Hand barely lost yesterday to Darien. So if your lucky to be in the game on Saturday think about x. Lol. Hmmm.
How did X do this year against that team from NY? My dear friend is an assistant coach and told me they felt bad and put in the JV kids late in the second quarter as the game was not competitive . Think about that when you are watching the playoffs from you couch.
In case you did not know, that team was from New Jersey and ranked as one of the top high school teams in the country by MaxPreps and they featured the 2nd best recruit in the country by ESPN and he was committed to Michigan. It was a scrimmage and if you think that ANY team in the state could realistically compete with them then you are off your rocker…
Let me get this straight: Middletown beat Farmington in a close game… Farmington got blown out against new Canaan…Darien beat new Canaan and now they play Middletown …. Thats. a game I don,t want to see.
I was at the Middletown vs Farmington game, and the score was alot closer than the game.
Middletown beat the s..t out of Farmington at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
However, penalties kept the score close. Jeb, get you facts straight.
D Money your smack is starting to sound like lack of confidence. Be cool or you’ll get your butt kicked, that was always my motto. Zen-like confident. Darien kids are like cold-hearted assassins, beware. Keep your cool, spread the word.
JB, I may have been over the top during these politically correct tmes. However, I know football and know what I saw (MHS vs Farmington).
If you want my obervarions, Darien and NC appear to be finess teams compared to Middletown. If Darien limits its mistakes, this may be the key for them winning.
However, Middletown has the size, speed, talent and depth to take Darien out of its game. Also, I know the Middletown coaching staff, and they are the real deal with more than ten championship games (Cromwell, Woodrow Wilson and Middletown) and under their belt (head coach and staff) so this is not their first Rodeo.
D Money – don’t be fooled by the rich-kid addresses … Darien and NC are old school bad-ass on D. Kids love to hit. Speed and size, with a bit of a mean streak. NC has 4 legitimate D-1AA recruits … oops, sorry, just learned their junior DE (Allen) was just offered by Pitt.
What??? Middletown and Farmington was a close game? Only by the score. Game was not close, Middletown Hurt themselves with penalties. The only close game this year was the first NL game, once again only because of penalties. I am tired of hearing this team bear that team so there better. X beat Hand, who cares. They are not in the playoffs and were not part of this conv. Still feel the need to put MHS down and praise X. Next you are going to tell me that Ollie is better than Highsmith, stop it! MHS is a good team, solid D, powerhouse of an offensive…. Period!
Dear D-MONEY,
The junior defensive back from New Canaan (zack allen) has just been offered a full four year scholarship to play for the University of Pittsburgh.
Jeb
Since Dario Highsmith of Middletown was just named Gatorade Player of the year, they will need Zach Allen in the championship game.
D MONEY,
I hope we both get there but after watching the Middletown vs Windsor game on tv I was not impressed with either team. No one could move the ball. Darien is a good team with a line you can’t run against. If Middletown throws the ball then by all means I give you a fighters chance otherwise I will take Darien. I hope I’m wrong because I’m a New Canaan fan and would prefer to play against Middletown providing we get by a very good North Haven team.
Jeb
I was at the Middletown vs Windsor game. The field was a mud bowl, since it was natural grass and there was a steady rain, and cold. Having played my football in similar conditions, I prefer this. However, neither team looked good due the conditions.
Being a former player and someone who has done a little coaching, Darien and/or NC pass oriented offenses would have not done any better on that night.
I watched the Hand game, Hand ran against Darien. The MHS vs Windsor game was a mess. It was raining and the field was a mud pit due to its a crappy grass field. Not a good benchmark to gauge the ability of either team. Middletown should be able to run the ball with its stable of backs.
They had one 50 yard run on a sweep and thats about it. Nothing up the middle.
They (Hand) moved the ball against D, what were the total stats for the game?
Hand should have went to a four man front to get more pressure. Can’t always blitz off the edge, D burnt them a few times when they blitzed.
37 carries for 156 yards with one 54 yard touchdown on a sweep which you can’t really fault the d-line on. Without the one long run, the stats look a whole lot different.
They rushed for 156 yards, that is allot against a top tier defense. Is it true that 90 is only a SO? It also seems that D likes to take a few shots after the whistle, big mistake against MHS. Not sure why 71 from Hand did not have a big game? Is he any good?
90. Evan Evanchick. Awesome. As is George Reed. Nice front.
Eh, take away the sweep which I’m pretty sure was a blown assignment with no edge player and its 36 for 102, which is 2.83 ypc. 90’s a soph and is the real deal and 71 seemed to just be a big body.
Championship ? Lol get serious. Are we talking about the same middletown high team? Your best game was against Farmington a team that go buried by 30 points in the first game. Honestly should look to play better competetion during regular season answer me this with a winning record do you now play the real teams in the ccc?
James:
Go sit on your couch and dream of Xavier championships past. Based on your comments, you do not know much about fooball in Middetown.
I grew up in Middletown, and watched the great Xavier teams of the 70s (they were better than the latest Xavier teams). However, programs have cycles, and the Xavier program was a dog in the 80s. Middletown was strong in the 80s and declined in the 90s.
Get over the recent Xavier success and understand that Xavier will not maintain its status indefinately.
I will enjoy the Middletown ride as long as I can.
I’m a staples fan but have seen Darien twice (hand and st joes). Cannot comment on Middletown. Best Darien defensive player I’ve seen is #90 Evenchick (a soph!).
Joes ran on Darien big time in 4Q. I assume Middletown can run as well as joes. Also can see that Darien defense was better vs hand than joes. But I will assume (based on this blog) that Middletown will have sucess running.
MHS fans, can your dbs keep up with a throwing onslaught? Not that the onslaught is so spectacular, but because it never stops. If Darien is losing and having no success throwing, they double down and throw is further down the field.
Iets assume Mhs controlls time of possession. This will be an important advantage. Can you can fluster the Darien offense? Make them go to their deepest weakness, which is chucking the ball while hyperventilating. Your dbs must play their game of the year to make this happen. Many comments on your front seven getting to the QB, I do not think this will happen. Maybe some, but not enough. Your dbs will decide this game.
Eh, Darien ran a 3 man front against Joes which was asking for trouble with their zone scheme. They’ve since moved on to a 4 man front and you can see how it has worked against Ridgefield, Wilton, NC, and Hand.
Allot of late hits in the Hand / D game, if this was MHS they would all be PF…….is it true that the D OLine sits on chairs on the sidelines? Say it ain’t so..
I think the O-line occasionally does to get coaching. What’s wrong with that?
Enough said,
I can honestly say the MHS DB’s are good, our LInebackers are smart and fast! Good combination of size and speed. I can tell you that our front seven is good, I am glad that there is not allot of film out there on MHS. MHS is big, fast, good QB and a stable of backs that can pound the ball or run off tackle…. Not going to give D to much, it should be a good game.
Mooncake:
You asked if Middletown has a good secondary, and I would say yes. Dario Highsmith (corner) is a a D-1 athlete (and Gatorade Player of the Year) his brother London Highsmith will also play in college. Safties and linebackers have size and are athletic, fast and agressive hitters. D-Line is big and strong and gets of the ball well and do not allow running between tackles or off the edge.
Also, Middletown has good depth, rotating defensive and offensive players throughout the game, so they do not tire in the 4th quarter.
FYI, a good portion of Middletown’s roster are blue coller/project type kids that are very athletic and agressive. Being well coached, they will not back down and will be very physical.
The MHS kids are diverse no doubt, not sure a majority are blue color or from the projects. I can tell you these kids have all know each other for awhile. They play hard, no quit in this team, they also have a few kids that like to lay the smack down. They def play with a chip on there ahoulder, I can tell you the focus is on a state championship, they are not content with just being in the playoffs. Don’t think London is Dario’s brother by may be his cousin or relative. It should be a good game, D likes to throw MHS like to rush the QB, lets see he gets tired first :)
JR
My mistake. I believe you are correct, London is Dario’s cousin. FYI, London’s father, was another great back in Middletown’s past.
Wave & JB,
There are many factors on how kids are recruited. There are many D1 kids out there that will never play college ball based on academics or kids not understanding the process. So when you throw out this kid is going here that one is a 1-AA prospect I really don’t care. MHS has D1 talent, but that does not decide which team is better. The D QB will need to play better than he did against Hand if D is going to beat MHS. He had a few awful reads,
As far as 90 goes, big kid, play alittle dirty, no change of direction ability, he is a north and south player and that’s it.
Hello, I read your blogs regularly. Your writing style is witty, keep doing what you’re doing!