One of the first points that Norwich Free Academy football coach Jemal Davis made to his Wildcats following a 48-7 win over Woodstock on Saturday was that critics will point out that NFA has not beaten anyone yet despite a 2-0 record.
It?s true that the Wildcats have not been challenged. NFA has scored 48 points in the first half of each of its first two games and then had the luxury of resting its starters for the entire second half.
Will that be a problem when NFA plays host to Fitch at 1 p.m. this Saturday?
Quarterback Joey Paparelli said the Wildcats have been going at it hard in practice and will be mentally prepared for the Falcons and the physical side shouldn?t be a problem.
?We have the two-platoon thing going and only offensive players play offense and defense plays defense, so no one is going to get overwhelmingly tired,? Paparelli said. ?We conditioned all offseason and went through the hardest camp that I?ve ever been a part of. We?re still running three days a week and all of our practices are high-tempo like we?re in a game.?
?Booting better
?There were few things Ledyard coach Jim Buonocore looked upon as a positive following the Colonels? game with Killingly. But there was an exception to that rule ? kicker Christian Alvis.
?He?s doing a nice job with the point-afters, he?s been perfect so far, and I thought our kickoffs were much better,? Buonocore said.
Alvis has a straight-on kicking style that you might expect from a player who is normally either on the offensive line or at linebacker. Buonocore said his staff worked with Alvis in the week between the Waterford and Killingly games and ?changed some things up? to improve his style.
?I was really happy with that. Now we just have to get the coverage team on board,? Buonocore said with a rare chuckle on Thursday night.
?Big plays
?There were plenty in between but it was the ?bookend? big plays by New London that set Montville back on Friday ? the first play from scrimmage and the last play from scrimmage in the first half.
Quarterback Ackee Barber found Sammy Miranda for a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game. Miranda caught the ball about seven yards off the line of scrimmage and quickly shook his defender who fell down.
?We wanted to try and air it out early, make those big guys run, because we?re not going to pound the football at them (the Whalers ran the ball only 13 times)? New London coach Duane Maranda said. ?We?re going to take what they?re giving us and what they were giving us was that play.?
Joquin Riley was responsible for the play that sent Montville into the locker room with its heads down. Indians? quarterback Nick Clemons ran into his own halfback, stumbled and lost control of the ball. Riley was coming in on the blitz and did the old ?scoop-and-score? trick.
?I just picked it up and ran as fast as I could, it just popped right up to me,? Riley said.
?Lack of focus
?Woodstock first-year head coach Jesse Pimental is doing everything he possibly can to make his team competitive.
In the game against NFA Saturday, the Centaurs tried just about every trick in the book but there was one thing that seemingly escaped the Centaurs ? focus.
They executed some things well, but also lost concentration and it resulted in such things as a pass on a punt deep in their own territory that gave the ball back to NFA deep in Woodstock territory. The Centaurs also had a host of delay-of-game penalties and fumbled a punt.
?We stressed the importance of being strong mentally in practice (Friday) and I was a little disappointed to come out the way we did,? Pimental said. ?The intensity has been better in practice, but it?s not translating to the games, so we have to take a look at that. Some of it is being intense and some of it is getting behind early and not being able to sustain the intensity.??
Mighty Panthers
It?s early, but something special might be brewing in Central Village. Plainfield improved to 2-0 with a 43-6 thumping of St Bernard/Norwich Tech Friday night. The Panthers totaled only five wins in the prior two seasons and with a win Friday at Waterford (0-2), could equal last season?s victory total.
For the second week in a row, it was Plainfield?s defense that kept coach Patrick Smith?s squad in the game during the first half until the offense finally hit its stride in the second, rolling up 244 yards and three scores over the final 24 minutes.
?We?re still a work in progress,? said Smith, ?We didn?t do much of anything right in the first half. Fortunately, for us in the second half, we came out and made some nice adjustments and the kids responded. Give the kids credit. This is two weeks in a row that kids came out in the second half and played with some passion.?
Plainfield?s defense limited St Bernard to 163 yards of offense and also returned a fumble for a touchdown for the second consecutive week.
Marc Allard and Peter Koiva contributed to this report.
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