The Shelton High School football team will compete Saturday in the Class LL state championship game against Darien High School.
Game time is 2 p.m. at Willow Brook Park in New Britain.
The Gaels are undefeated and they are top-ranked team in Class LL.
It’s quite a feat considering the number of key starting players injured this season.
“We are lucky this year where we have a lot of depth on the team. We have 74 kids so we use a philosophy of next man up,” head coach Jeff Roy said last month at practice.
The most recent injury happened Dec. 1.
Senior running back Peter Hoff broke his leg late in the state quarterfinal playoff game against West Haven.
Hoff has racked up a lofty 205 yards on 22 carries to go along with a touchdown in the quarterfinal contest.
Senior captain, defensive back Ron Hubbard and defensive back Keith Prior stepped in for Hoff on Monday against Newtown High School in the Class LL State semifinals.
Hubbard picked up two touchdowns on the ground and even threw for one out of a wildcat formation, en route to a hard-fought, 35 – 28 Gaels win over Newtown High School at Finn Stadium.
See scenes from the game in the video above.
“We’ve had adversity the whole year. Another kid week after week stepped up and it was my week to step up on offense and I got it done,” said Hubbard shortly after the Gaels semifinal win.
Facing Adversity
The Gaels have grown accustomed to dealing with the missing players.
Earlier in the season the team lost senior wide receiver Chris Kanios, who broke his leg in the first offensive series against Xavier High School on Oct. 23 in a 42 – 7 Shelton win.
In the team’s game against Hamden High School on Friday Nov. 13, senior wide receiver Sam Kirk, brother to tight end Alex Kirk, also sustained a broken leg that ended his 2015 campaign.
Kanios, Kirk and Hoff accounted for 2,061 yards of total Gael offense in 2014 and 1,926 yards in 2015 according to MaxPreps.com. All this means for the Gaels is that they’ve needed to find sufficient replacements for the loss of production.
On top of it all, starting quarterback Zach Tuskowski had missed two games due to a sprained foot, prompting senior defensive back David Wells to quarterback the team in his absence.
See scenes from the team’s November practices below.
The Gaels have had other key players, such as senior Kevin Robinson, step up. Robinson has compiled 851 yards of total offense for the Gaels in 2015 also according to MaxPreps.com.
Receivers such as senior Anthony Schiavo and senior tight end Alex Kirk have stepped up to play key roles in offense, which is averaging 40.7 points per game despite blows to the offensive depth chart. The Gaels’ defense has allowed only about 13.0 points per game in 12 games.
“Our whole receiver core has a lot to offer. Me and Alex Kirk were both returning starters and Anthony Schiavo has been playing great all year and all of us could really get the job done so we are not too worried,” Robinson said last month.
The Finals
Shelton faced off against the West Haven Blue Devils in the CIAC Class LL State Quarterfinals on Dec. 1.
The Gaels beat West Haven by a score of 40 – 20 in the rainy, windy conditions at Finn Stadium. Hoff ran for 205 yards on 22 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown run at the end of the first half before being removed due to injury.
Tuskowski threw for 191 yards to go along with three touchdowns on 13 of 19 completions, including two scores to Alex Kirk, who caught two scores himself for 36 and 17 yards.
See key plays from the Dec. 1 game in the video below.
A New Challenge
With the Gaels’ state playoff Class LL victories over West Haven and Newtown in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, they now head on to play the Darien High School Blue Wave at Willow Brook Park in New Britain on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 2:30 p.m.
The Blue Wave is coming off a monstrous defensive performance in which they shut down top ranked Southington High School and UConn commit Southington quarterback Jasen Rose, in a 49 – 7 game at Boyle Stadium in Stamford on Monday evening.
The Blue Wave also cruised their way to a 41 – 7 drubbing of Staples High School in the quarterfinals on Dec. 1. The Blue Wave’s touted defense is paced by the newly crowned all-time Connecticut career sacks leader Mark Evanchick, who just recently passed current Indianapolis Colts linebacker Dwight Freeney for the sacks record, surpassing Freeney 63.5 to 60.
“It’s going to be a great game, a real tough game but we will be ready,” said Hubbard after Monday evening’s contest. “It’s going to be a hard-fought battle, a lot of hitting, but it will be a great game to watch.”
