It was only fitting that on senior night, Ansonia senior running back, Montrell Dobbs, stole the show at Jarvis Field.
Dobbs (22 carries, 325 yards, 6 TDs) once again showed he is among the elite in the state, rushing for six touchdowns in a 55 – 21 victory over the Seymour Wildcats Wednesday.
Seymour head coach Tom Lennon praised the Ansonia team and its senior leader.
“Their kids played their tails off and I’ll tell you – that no. 5 is something else. He’s a tremendous player. He makes you look pretty bad sometimes,” Lennon said.
Ansonia is now 9 – 0 on the season. Seymour fell to 0 – 8.
The Chargers’ line won the battle in the trenches and allowed Dobbs to score on runs of 2, 39, 9, 62, 37 and 48 yards.
“I wouldn’t be anything without my line or my fullback. They block and I just run the hardest I can,” Dobbs said.
Seymour had its chances early on but only managed to score a quick touchdown, an 8‑yard run by junior Jon Wilson (18 carries, 86 yards, 2 TD), to make the score 14 – 7, Ansonia, early in the second quarter.
The Wildcats hit pay dirt just twice more – on a 10-yard run by Wilson and an 8‑yard pass from junior QB Luke Grabowski (8 – 22, 137 yards, TD) to senior Damien Granda.
The Seymour defense put forth a valiant effort in attempting to contain Dobbs. But even when it did, Dobbs found a way to respond with a big play.
“[Ansonia] just has a tradition of finding these kids and they’re not afraid to just give [Dobbs] the ball. And they just keep giving [Dobbs] the ball and he just keeps pounding you. And he’s a physical runner. He’s going to keep coming at you. He makes people miss and he made us look pretty slow on top of that. Sooner or later he finds a hole and … he’s gone,” Lennon said.
Montrell surpassed the 2,000-yard mark on the season, rushing for a total of 2,292 yards on 267 carries to go along with 29 rushing touchdowns in only eight games played.
With Dobbs finally on the sidelines mid-way through the third quarter, freshman RB Arkeel Newsome replaced Dobbs and took his first handoff 90 yards for a score to give the Chargers a commanding 55 – 21 lead over Seymour.
“We’ve had a couple of other guys making plays but obviously we’ve been fortunate Montrell has been able to make them every week,” said Ansonia head coach Tom Brockett.
With a possible NVL Championship game next Thursday versus Woodland, Brockett still knows his team has work to do. “I think we have to get better. When you’re a young team and you’re not doing everything right, you have to get better every week or you’re going to get beat.”
Note: If Woodland tops Sacred Heart tomorrow evening, Woodland is the outright champion of the NVL Copper division. However, if Woodland loses and Naugatuck beats Holy Cross, the winner of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Ansonia Chargers and the Naugatuck Greyhounds will be the NVL Championship.
