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Xavier’s Osiah Wiggins, left, breaks up a pass intended for Shelton’s David Yakowicz on Thursday in West Haven.
Photo: Catherine Avalone / Hearst Connecticut MediaXavier’s Osiah Wiggins, left, breaks up a pass intended for Shelton’s David Yakowicz on Thursday in West Haven.
Xavier’s Osiah Wiggins, left, breaks up a pass intended for Shelton’s David Yakowicz on Thursday in West Haven.
Xavier’s Osiah Wiggins, left, breaks up a pass intended for Shelton’s David Yakowicz on Thursday in West Haven.
WEST HAVEN — After needing some fourth-quarter heroics to survive against Cheshire in the opener, Shelton looked more like the football team touted as the best the Southern Connecticut Conference has to offer against Xavier.
Jack Carr scored three times in the opening half to help Shelton, the No. 5 team in the GameTimeCT/Register football poll, blitz Xavier 38-7 Thursday night at Ken Strong Stadium.
“As a team, we realized if we came out fast, they couldn’t hang with us,” Carr said. “We had a lot of stuff that needed to be corrected. We were very sloppy. We got a really good week of practice in.”
Carr scored on two long runs and totaled 148 rushing yards in the opening half on just three carries. His first touchdown was the only score of the first quarter, a 32-yard catch from quarterback Jake Roberts (8 of 16, 174 yards first half, 66 rushing yards).
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“It’s nice to have him healthy,” Shelton coach Jeff Roy said about Carr. “Any time he touches the ball, obviously, he can go the distance. Those breakaway runs are back-breakers for the other team.”
While Shelton (2-0) was virtually flawless on offense, its defense was also impressive. Xavier had just seven yards of offense midway through the second quarter and 34 in the entire half. The Falcons (0-2) didn’t pick up their first first down until there was 5:26 left before halftime.
“Defensively, two weeks in a row, our front seven played well. We got after it,” Roy said. “We try to utilize our speed and aggressiveness. Our defense was tremendous in the first half.”
Osiah Wiggins’ interception and return to Shelton’s 39 gave Xavier its best field position of the opening half. The team picked up one first down via a pass interference penalty, but the Gaels didn’t yield another, snuffing out the drive at their own 19.
Then Carr finished off the half, and Xavier, with a 82-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds left in the half put the Gaels up 35-0.
“Coach said, ‘We are not going to run out the clock. Score and get in the locker room,’” Carr said.
David Yakowicz scored Shelton’s second touchdown, hauling in a 24-yard pass from Roberts early in the second quarter. Michai Lynch Barnes scored the third TD just 2 minutes later from 2 yards out.
Then Carr scored his second touchdown on a 60-yard run to put the Gaels up 28-0. And the rout was on.
Roy credited two days of practice this week at Insports Centers in Trumbull when it rained to help get the timing down on offense.
“We lost timing with limited practice. We rented (the facility) out two nights during the week.
“Our timing was better,” Roy said.
Shelton coach Jeff Roy after the Gaels defeated Xavier. #cthsfb pic.twitter.com/k4AabYGqAy
— Joe Morelli (@nhrJoeMorelli) September 14, 2018
Xavier didn’t score until the fourth quarter, a 2-yard run by Ryan Milner.
“Hopefully, our recipe this year is play good defense and run the ball, but you have to give them credit, they are ranked in the top 10 for a reason,” Xavier coach Andy Guyon said about Shelton. “When they are healthy and firing on all cylinders, they’re great and they showed it tonight.”
This game was originally supposed to be played at Finn Stadium at Shelton High, but a complete renovation project on the stadium is still not completed, so the school had to find a different site for its first two home games.
The Gaels expect to return home for their actual first home game Sept. 28 against Guilford.
QUOTABLE
“Give them the credit, they played great, did what a top 10 team is supposed to do, they are going to be there at the end (in the Class LL state tournament), that’s for sure.”
— Xavier coach Andy Guyon said about fifth-ranked Shelton.
WINNING STREAK CONTINUES
Shelton has now won the last four regular-season games in this series, dating back to 2014 — also the same year Xavier upset Shelton 28-27 in overtime to win the Class LL Small Division championship. The Gaels had beaten the Falcons during that regular season.
Shelton 38, Xavier 7
Xavier 0 0 0 7 — 7
Shelton 7 28 3 0 — 38
SH: Jack Carr 32 pass from Jake Roberts (Nick Andrade kick)
SH: David Yakowicz 24 pass from Jake Roberts (Nick Andrade kick)
SH: Michai Lynch Barnes 2 run (Nick Andrade kick)
SH: Jack Carr 60 run (Nick Andrade kick)
SH: Jack Carr 82 run (Nick Andrade kick)
SH: Nick Andrade 33 field
Xavier: Ryan Miner 2 run (kick)
Xavier (0-1, 0-1)
Shelton (2-0, 2-0)
Great peformane by the Gaels. They used their hammer offense (6 lineman, 2 TEs and a Fullback) and just gave Jack Carr ball and they ran it down young Xavier’s throat. This is offense that best suits this team with Roberts at QB. This combined with a stout defense is the formula for this team. Next week’s trip to Prep will be a battle.
Gaels Fan as there so here is your official Gaels Fan after action report:
Not a whole heck of a lot to say here. A great performance by the Gaels. Their defense is tough this year. Their line dominated the line of scrimmage all night and in the rare instance a runner got through the line the Gaels linebackers swarmed them. Xavier probably had three or four first downs all night, the first one coming in the second quarter. As the saying goes “defense wins championship”. If the Gaels offense can step it up to match their defense they can do well.
In this game they did just that. Pretty much everyone contributed something positive last night. Carr ran great and had good openings created for him. Roberts ran a few good ones, and was pretty accurate in his throwing all night. Ferrigno and Yakowicz each caught some good balls, and Ghazal bulled his way to some good runs for the Gaels and in the process layed out the single most punishing hit of the game on an Xavier defender that tried to stop him head on ( seen in the above video ).
That being g said, it’s pretty clear that Xavier is in a down period and is not the same caliber team they were when they won the championship in OT in 2014. As the article states ( somewhat incorrectly in the number ) the Gaels have won this regular season matchup every year since 2014, making it five straight wins. Clearly they will face some opponents shortly that have been more challenging in recent years. One of those will be FP next week. If the defense can hold Harrison to short yardage and their offense steps it up like it did last night then they can, I believe, win that game as well. But it remains to be seen which offense will show up against FP, the one that played Xavier, or the one that played Cheshire. Let’s hope it’s the former. FP and North Haven are the two biggest concerns and hurdles in my opinion. And of course the Westies always seem to play the Gaels tough as well.
Overall though a great win for the Gaels and probably a needed confidence booster. Good job boys. Practice hard, and good luck in the game against FP. Roll Gaels !
Does Prep have a solid O line? As good as Harrison is, he still needs solid blocking.
Let’s go Prep!!! Low man wins.
Gaels Fan,
Shelton and Xavier did not play during the 2017 regular season, hence four straight. Xavier won in 2013.
Yes Joe, correct. Brain fart on my part. Forgot about last year. Thanks.
I was at the game last night and while Shelton played great, dominated and deserve the accolades that Gaels Fans and some of the loyal Shelton fans will post about, I have to ask the question “What happened to the once great program that Xavier had year to year?” The 2018 version on the Xavier football team I saw on the field last night lacked the size and the skill of the great teams that I was used to the Falcons competing with every year. Honestly I compare last nights game to watching a varsity teams weekly practice that has the JV kids lining up across as they scrimmage each other and work on plays. That being said I would caution the Gaels from thinking that their dominating performance has them ready to compete against the top teams in the state. I am hoping the Prep game next week is a much better game to help Shelton get ready for the playoffs because if last nights game is any indication of what their schedule is going to be this year then I would equate it to typical Ansonia schedule as they dominate the NVL every year.
I saw X play NFA last week and they looked the same. Porous defense and an offense that can’t move the ball. Recipe for disaster. I must point out that the number of players looks greatly reduced. As a private school, the coaches get whomever walks through the door. If those numbers are down then it is slim pickings. I can see why public schools like Shelton, Greenwich, Hand, NC, Darien, Southington should have an advantage every year as their kids will have played together in the town youth leagues growing up.
JED
I’m assuming your kidding when you say “As a private school, the coaches get whomever walks through the door.”
So JED,
now it’s the public schools that have the advantage?
Sorry you two must be from the recruit bandwagon. The public schools should have the advantage as pointed out in my thread. When you only have 40 kids on the sidlelines as opposed to the 100 Shelton or Greenwich can field, you have less kids to choose from. A few short years ago X had about 100 on the sideline as well. I guess 13k tuition per year is too much for folks these days.
That’s how you play Shelton football.
Pretty cool that the four horsemen were together on the sidelines (Riggio, Branca, Benanto and Roy).
Glad they got to see a good show.
Big game this week, practice hard! Go Gaels!
Was not at the game but watched via stream. Have to echo what High School Football Fan says. Simply shocking to see how far X as a program has fallen in a fairly short time frame. That was no contest. Credit to Coach Roy for calling off the dogs and not trying to rub it in.
After further review pushing Marinan out the door may not have been Xavier’s best move.