FAIRFIELD — Sandwiched between an emphatic win over GametimeCT then-No. 1 New Canaan and an impending matchup with No. 3 Darien next Saturday, Friday’s matchup for newly-minted No. 1 St. Joseph against Fairfield Warde presented the classic trap-game scenario.
And, while the Hogs did more than survive — downing Warde 44-6 — the sloppy, penalty-filled affair did little to inspire confidence going forward.
“Trap game, trap week of practice, that’s what happens,” St. Joe coach Joe Della Vecchia said. “I don’t know how many penalties we had, but I’m guessing 22. I warned them all week, warned them before we left and we just had all those penalties and don’t play well and that’s what happens. We just I guess had a bad hangover, I don’t know.”
Midway through the first, St. Joseph was facing a fourth-and-three in Warde territory, but a 30-yard quarterback draw from David Summers put the Hogs at the 15-yard-line, eventually leading to a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Bike on a long third-and-goal following a penalty.
Week 2 High School Football Schedule / Scoreboard
The second Hogs’ score came a little easier as on the first play of the drive Summers dumped a screen to Jaden Shirden, who galloped 52 yards to make it 14-0 in the first.
The Warde offense woke up from there, as quarterback Joey Gublin hit Jeff Seganos Jr. with a 32-yard pass to the St. Joe seven, where they would once again connect to make it 14-6.
With just under nine minutes to go in the second, St. Joe’s Jesse Lawson recovered a fumble at the plus-22 and the Hogs made it count.
Receiver William Diamantis skied for a jump ball at the two on the first play and eventually hauled in seven-yard touchdown following a St. Joseph false start penalty.
Warde responded with a long drive, but Cole daSilva intercepted a pass for St. Joseph at his own 21.
The Hogs would drive to the two before losing a fumble, but DaSilva saved the day with a tackle for a safety to make it 23-6 St. Joseph headed to the half.
“I’m very pleased with how our kids played and the effort they gave,” Warde coach Duncan Della Volpe said. “At one point the score was 23-6 and we probably gave them nine of those points, so 14-6 against a pretty talented team, I thought we did a heck of a job.”
The third was uneventful from a scoring standpoint, but important in that Gublin exited the game for the Mustangs with an injury, leading to three touchdowns from the Hogs in the final frame.
Early in the quarter, Summers hit Diamantis with an eight-yard strike for a score, then the quarterback broke off a 19-yard touchdown run, barreling through several defenders on his way to pay dirt.
“That was great,” Summers laughed. “I don’t run a lot so it’s always nice to score a running touchdown. Our line did a nice job blocking, Jaden had a nice lead block for me. It is what it is, great team effort.”
Shirden put a bow on the win with a 20-yard touchdown romp as time expired.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Summers, St. Joseph. The senior QB wasn’t perfect, but threw for four scores and ran for another. His biggest accomplishment was eliminating turnovers after throwing three interceptions against New Canaan last week.
“Just was smarter with the ball,” Summers said. “Against New Canaan I took a couple shots I shouldn’t have taken, a couple bad throws when I didn’t need to throw the ball. Today was just, play smarter with the ball and get it to the guys that are open.”
ALMOST HOME
While it was technically the home opener for Warde, the game was played across town at Fairfield-Ludlowe High School due to construction at the Mustangs’ field.
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER
“If we play with that effort and we clean up mistakes, then I’m confident in every game that we go into,” Della Volpe said. “This team that we played tonight should be one of the better teams that we face. If we continue to get that effort, we’ll be in every one.”
ST. JOSEPH 44, FAIRFIELD WARDE 6
ST. JOSEPH 14 9 0 21—44
FAIRFIELD WARDE 0 6 0 0—6
Records: St. Joseph 2-0, 2-0 FCIAC; Fairfield Warde 1-1, 1-1.
SJ—Jesse Bike 20 pass David Summers (Luke Kirby kick)
SJ—Jaden Shirden 52 pas Summers (Kirby kick)
FW—Jeff Seganos Jr. 7 pass Joey Gublin (PAT failed)
SJ—William Diamantis 7 pass Summers (Kirby kick)
SJ—Cole DaSilva safety
SJ—Diamantis 8 pass Summers (Kirby kick)
SJ—Summers 19 run (Kirby kick)
SJ—Shirden 20 run (Kirby kick)
Why are Shirden and Summers in a game that was over once the score went to 30-6 in the 4rth Quarter. I know the coach if asked will say look what happened in our game against Ridgefield last year but it was Warde they were playing, not themselves from a year ago that could put up points in a hurry.
Could you imagine if Summers gets hurt throwing for that extra TD to make it 37-6 with limited time left or Shirden screws up a knee running for a TD to make it 44-6 “as time expires”? Kinda dumb if you ask me but I guess coach D knows what hes doing lol #padyourstats
I agree but if one reads the article you would think the game was a nail biter win but it was more of a let’s try this and see what happens game. Good coaches do not risk their top skill players when up by 24 especially against a team they clearly have the edge over. Darien is next week , not Bassick.
Throwing the ball up by 30pts in the 4th qtr. WOW
Darien is going to be the test that will tell. SJH and Darien both understand this. The second week nothing more than the scrimmage to get the bugs out to fix. SJ has proven they can put points up in a hurry, lots. Defense is going to be the key. If was coaching however a win is a win but would protect the QB and receiver and that is why any good coach will not play them in scrimmages. Maybe in Connecticut where to some they are as important as the game but not in states or teams that use them as to determine weakness and strengths. I hope NFHS will show it as they did not the Ward game.
I was at Ludlowe for this one. Offensive line was dominant and Summers played well against an overmatched Warde team.
The concern going into next week’s game vs. Darien is the defense. The tackling is very suspect especially safeties, and they also bite up too often.
Sure glad that the one player, DeSilva “saved” the day for the hogs otherwise it could had been a 70 to 0 win!! OMG what will they ever do .
Oh yes coach D , defense is going to need to step up. SJ showed a very impressive D against NC. Have not seen any games with Darien but it is not hard to guess the coach there is well aware to this and will double the receiver and want to give pain to Summers. I hope the offensive line of SJ protect him. I have a deep respect for some of the teams in Ct and believe they can play most anywhere. Darien, North Haven, Hand, Shelton, NC, West Haven to mention a few. I am nervous already!!!
Is St Joes “Cadets” or “Hogs”? Article says both. SJ website says “Cadets”.
Sorry for being nit-picky, but SPB corrected a commenter (and then an article).
Any historical background would be appreciated.
It’s Cadets for all sports team except football, which is HOGS. That’s what this site goes by with no exception.
Although, I’ll admit it’s tricky to get the staff to remember this and we had to go through and update it. Missed the singular references.
The story comes from the lineman pushing weights or thereabouts up the hill in back of the school and somebody said they looked like a bunch of hogs. And the team eventually called itself that. Heck, it’s in their website url name: https://www.stjoeshogsfootball.com/
From the website referenced by SPB. Should clear things up.
———————————————————-
Legend of the Hog
The formal mascot of St. Joseph High School is the Cadet. But for the past 30 seasons, the football team has been known as the Hogs.
How did they become the Hogs? It all started on a cold, frigid, fall morning; October 25th, 1980 to be exact. St. Joe’s, which was ranked #4 in the state football polls at that time, was hosting a strong Stratford team; and had a showdown with arch rival and #3 ranked Fairfield Prep the following week.
Heavy winds and rain were in the forecast. The field would be a muddy mess, nearly unplayable – it had very little grass to begin with. Coach Ed McCarthy came into the locker room to discuss the possibility of postponing the game, and the affects a short week of practice sandwiched between games with two of our biggest and toughest rivals would have on the team. As he started to talk, he was abruptly interrupted with a loud protest from the back of the locker room, “We are Hogs, and we love to play in the mud!”
The game was played that morning, in a monsoon no less. St. Joe’s won 20-0. Following the game a new battle cry was heard for the remainder of the season, “We are the Hogs, and the Hogs are great!”
With their bruising running game, complimented by a creative passing attack and a tenacious defense, this 1980 team represented the best attributes of the wily hog; and they went on to win the school’s first football state championship ever! Football purists and genuine St. Joe’s fans felt comfortable with the Hog, and the Hog had won it all – and thus, HOG MANIA was born!
Thank you for the official name and the background.
Sadly, I actually find these things interesting.
We were the cadets but years later a team decided to call themselves as such because they did well playing in the rain and mud. Did not hear the story Sean has mentioned but for whatever they are officially the Cadets. Hi Sean, how are you these days??? Hey for what it is worth. Why does Ct not divide their conferences according to school size??? I think the SCC tier system sucks but hey just my view. A good S school or M can be deprived from the playoffs , a LL school in the S field deprives a worthy LL the play offs and so on. Example; Trinity could be play off bound many times but look who they must contend with. Will Naugatuck keep a strong team out?? Just makes not logic to me. I did my HS in Ct and college in the deep south as well as coaching in Texas / Louisiana; thus LaTx. We also do a points thing here according to the win over a larger school . I am not all understanding how you all do it. The points decide the play offs . S beats a LL the more points. Just my two bits and nothing more. thanks.
They’re the Hogs. This is not a debate.
The CIAC football system is antiquated and leagues are attempting to help their own schools by getting them games against like-sized schools from other leagues. It’s a grassroots version of implementing the district model, but not fully realized.
Trinity and even SJ (although it can obviously compete at that level) are in rough spots because the rest of the league is LL and then their schedules get put up against other Class Ms and S schedules, which aren’t nearly the same caliber. It was fine back in 1976 when the formula was created, but not in 2018.
Meh
As recently as 2015 Trinity went 8-1 in the FCIAC, losing only to Greenwich.
This is an example of the constant churn in “Top Team” status in the FCIAC. Which is more evidence athat the FCIAC should start some “Tier” system is specious.
The only constant in the FCIAC over the last 20 years has been New Canaan. Darien and St. Joes are on top for now. I have seen them at the bottom, too. Greenwich rose, fell, and appears to have risen again. Staples, Ridgefield, Bridgeport, Norwalk, McMahon, Westhill have all been at or near the top in the last 10 years. Hell, Staples was a “dynasty” for a while.
Let’s all just calm down and not fix something that ain’t broke. With 50% of the teams tasting success in a 10 year period, no league can really point to a better track record.
Now, if the SCC Tier system actually ever pays consistent dividends, I will be the first person to say the FCIAC should try their way.
Constant weekly TOUGH games are hurting the SCC in the playoffs. But it makes for an action-packed two months. A football fan’s and players’s delight.
When exactly was WESTHILL, as you said, near the top of the league. You said in the last 10 years. Specific year and record, please. (I don’t want to hear about any 6-4 seasons)
The FCIAC tries to get as many of its teams as possible into the postseason. That is their prerogative. The SCC tries to create a n exciting regular season with big games every week. The SCC is a bit down right now, save Hand and Shelton. Hand should have NEVER been placed in Tier 2. Big mistake by that league.