The first half of Friday night’s Ansonia-Derby football game seemed to be everything a Valley football fan could ask for. Two neighboring football teams, rivals for more than 100 years, going toe to toe for bragging rights.
The second half, however, was a dream realized only for Montrell Dobbs and the Chargers.
Dobbs keyed a potent running attack, rushing for 176 yards and four touchdowns as Ansonia pulled away from the Derby Red Raiders in the final two quarters to win 44 – 14.
Friday’s contest was the first Ansonia-Derby game in six years and the first between the two as Naugatuck Valley League members.
Derby started the scoring, breaking out to a 7 – 0 lead with a 15-yard D’Ron Conyers touchdown run to close a brief 53-yard drive.
Ansonia matched that score early into the second quarter, ending a 70-yard drive with Dobbs scrambling to the end zone from 28 yards out.
Dobbs was the finisher on the second Chargers’ scoring drive as well. Though he started the 43-yard drive with a loss of a yard, he more than redeemed himself by giving Ansonia a 7‑point lead with a 20-yard run with 5:19 to go in the first half.
Dobbs, who has two cousins with the Red Raiders, said he wanted to win this game as badly as any he’d ever played in.
“I wanted it so bad, I was willing to do anything,” Dobbs said. “I knew I was gonna run with my life on it.”
The Red Raiders responded in just 15 seconds as Jacob Tomczak returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to even the score for Derby at the 5:04 mark of the second quarter.
The Red Raiders seemingly had life, but Ansonia took charge of the game on their next possession.
Quarterback Nick O’Connor established the drive with a 17-yard keeper run and finished it with a 1‑yard sneak through a pile of Derby tacklers to give Ansonia a 21 – 14 lead.
Derby had a chance to draw to within four, but Ansonia’s Julian Sobin blocked Luis Casco’s 30-yard field goal attempt at the end of the half.
The second half belonged to the Chargers, who kept the ball on the ground to pick up key first downs and take time off the clock. Ansonia’s first drive of the third quarter ended with a Michael Palmquist field goal to extend the Chargers’ lead to 10.
The Chargers didn’t stay without the ball long as the Red Raiders could only run four plays on their first possession before punting the ball back to Ansonia. The Chargers continued to give the ball to Dobbs, O’Connor and Robert Kinnebrew.
Dobbs closed out the 54-yard march with a 16-yard TD run with 1:40 to go in the third period. The extra point failed, keeping the lead at 30 – 14.
Derby’s next drive began with some promise as the Raiders moved from their own 29 to Ansonia’s 48-yard line. But Sobin sacked Derby signal caller Ray Krieger on a second down play to lose nine yards on the final play of the third quarter. Derby could only get the ball back to Ansonia’s 45 before punting and giving the Chargers another opportunity.
The Chargers pounded away, again using a mix of runners to move the ball 80 yards with the longest run coming on a 13-yard rush by Kinnebrew. But Dobbs finished the drive with his final touchdown of the game, going three yards to push Ansonia’s lead to 23 points with 5:38 to go in the game.
Kinnebrew finally got his score on a 53-yard run on Ansonia’s last possession.
O’Connor said the Chargers wanted to run the ball heavily against Derby.
Mission accomplished.
“It was the best effort we gave all year, hands down,” O’Connor said. “My sneaks and [Dobbs], 100 percent tonight goes to the [offensive] line…the line really stepped up tonight.”
Ansonia Coach Tom Brockett also praised the big guys up front “from tight end to tight end.” But he praised his team for putting together a complete game.
“It was a complete effort. We need to play great offense, we need to play great defense. We gave up that touchdown on special teams, but other than that, special teams was good, too.”
Derby Coach Carmen DiCenso said it was “a tale of two games” between the first and second halves and the Chargers “wanted it more than we did.”.
“There was a lot of times where we have third and long and they always picked up a first down,” he said. “You can’t let a team like that keep the ball as long as they did.”
Krieger said the Raiders played well in the first 24 minutes, but got tired in the second half. Krieger said his team will have to focus on conditioning to go for the entire game.
“We were fighting hard in every single play in the first half, but we came out in the second half tired. It got to us,” he said.
“We didn’t come to play. That’s it,” a down Conyers said, walking off the field with teammates Rashawn Hendricks and Linbert Cousley.
Ansonia (5 – 2) will host St. Paul next Friday. Derby (3 – 4) will travel to face Wilby next Saturday.
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