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Football

New Milford shuts out Wilbur Cross for third-consecutive win

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NEW MILFORD — New Milford earned its third consecutive win, shutting out Wilbur Cross in a 20-0 victory at New Milford Friday night.

The team was led offensively by sophomore quarterback Reese Vanek, who scored all three of his team’s touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving.

“[Vanek] is as tough as nails,” New Milford coach Sean Murray said. “He fumbled in the first half, couldn’t really get anything going but nothing fazes the kid. He just keeps playing hard and keeps going all day long. He’s fearless.”

The New Milford defense was impenetrable throughout the game, giving Vanek and his offense the majority of possession throughout.

It looked as if the first half would end scoreless after the Wilbur Cross defense made two big red zone stops, forcing New Milford to turn the ball over on downs.

With three seconds remaining in the half, New Milford put its first points on the board in its third trip to the red zone. The touchdown was scored on a trick play as wide receiver Matt Bouzakis completed a 11-yard pass to Vanek for a 6-0 New Milford lead.

“We’ve been working on [the trick play] a little bit over the last couple weeks,” Murray said. “In the huddle they said, let’s just do it, so we did it and we are all in this together. It has been real fun and it has been a great atmosphere.”

The Green Wave increased the lead in the third quarter as Vanek scored his second touchdown of the day on an 18-yard rush to go ahead 12-0.

In the fourth quarter Vanek struck again, this time with an 11-yard rushing touchdown followed by a successful two-point conversion pass to put the game out of reach for Wilbur Cross with five minutes to play.

“The team is feeling awesome,” Murray said. “It wasn’t pretty tonight, but they played real hard. I challenged them at halftime to come out and give it their all and they answered the challenge tonight.”

The win improves New Milford’s record to 3-2, following an 0-10 campaign in 2018.

Wilbur Cross falls to 0-5 as its offensive difficulties continued.

“Our goal this year is just to get better every week,” Wilbur Cross coach John Acquavita said. “Offense has been a struggle, but as I said way in the beginning, there is not one returning guy on offense, all brand new. We are trying to build a little bit for next year.”