What a difference a week makes for the Ansonia Chargers!
They shook off a disappointing loss to Holy Cross and rebounded with a big 49 – 28 win over Wilby in a game witnessed by 200 hearty fans on a drizzly Friday night.
The Chargers got the jump on the weather as well as the Wildcats.
The game kicked off at 5:15 p.m. in Ansonia in anticipation of a big rain storm, which, as luck would have it, never materialized. But Ansonia was ready, scoring on five of their first six possessions in the first half.
After stopping Wilby on their initial drive, the Chargers marched methodically down the field, capped off by a four-yard scoring plunge by their star running back, Montrell Dobbs. The first of seven conversion kicks by Michael Palmquist was good, putting Ansonia ahead to stay at 7 – 0.
Dobbs’ backfield running mate, Robert Kinnebrew, quickly added to the Chargers scoring with a 10-yard scamper up the left side with 3:35 to go in the first quarter.
Ansonia was to add on three more scores before the half, sandwiched around a couple of touchdowns by Wilby’s Devon Pruden, one of the few bright spots for Wilby on the night.
One of the Ansonia touchdowns came on a brilliant 82-yard kickoff return by Dobbs, who broke several tackles and got great blocking by the Chargers’ special teams players. Dobbs had three touchdowns in all, the last coming on a 39-yard sprint draw.
“We were much improved over last week,” said Ansonia coach Tom Brockett. “We had a good week of practice, but there are still some things we need to work on. We’ve got to learn how to put teams away when we get a lead on them.”
He may have been referring to a 68-yard touchdown run scored by Pruden just before the half, which cut the Ansonia lead to 35 – 14. Earlier, quarterback Nick O’Connor hooked up with Tim Troy on a 31-yard screen pass good for a touchdown.
The Chargers were able to respond with two touchdowns of their own in the third period, one on a six-yard run by Christian Sobin, who still wears a cast on his arm from a preseason injury.
Paul Stumpo enjoyed the “lineman’s dream,” returning a Wilby fumble 48 yards for Ansonia’s final score of the night.
Wilby managed two more touchdowns against the Ansonia reserves, but their coach was less than pleased with his team’s effort.
“We didn’t come to play tonight,” said coach Chris Eckert, in just his second year at the Wildcats’ helm. “From the minute we got off the bus I could see my team wasn’t ready for Ansonia.”
Ansonia got a bit of a scare early in the second half, when Dobbs limped off the field. It turned out to be a minor bruise to the Achilles tendon, something which Brockett did not feel would keep his star running back out of action.
“He’ll be back practicing tomorrow,” Brockett said.
For his part, Dobbs gave the thumbs up and shook off the minor setback, which kept him out of most of the second half.
“I’m fine,” he said. “No big deal.”
But the win was a big deal for the Chargers, who now stand at 3 – 1 overall and 2 – 0 in the Brass Division standings.
They face a crucial test next week when they travel to Wolcott to meet the undefeated Eagles, coming off a huge 45 – 8 win over Crosby.
“Wolcott has a big and strong team,” said Brockett. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us, starting tomorrow.”
The winner of that game will likely be the favorite to take the Brass Division title. The game is set for Friday on the field turf surface at Wolcott High School for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
