Despite having many key injuries, including quarterback, Jon Groth, Shelton escaped with a 14 – 7 home victory over Amity (3 – 4) to raise its record to 4 – 3 on Friday.
“Like I told the kids, it wasn’t pretty but we got the job done,” Gaels coach Jeff Roy said.
Groth played for the first half and part of the second half before giving way to junior Frank Camerino. Shelton senior tailback Chris Mancuso missed the game because of an injury and although junior center Austin Rose played, he, like Groth, didn’t practice this week because of their injuries.
“We didn’t think Jon would play but Frank stepped it up,” Shelton’s Mike Georgalas said. “Jon played great when he was in.”
That was an understatement.
Groth scored both Shelton touchdowns in the second on a 32-yard run and a 36-yard run to give it the hosts a 14 – 0 lead. His younger brother, sophomore Eddie Groth, kicked both extra points.
“Jon had a bad ankle but he stepped it up and got the job done in the first half,” Roy said.
Amity scored its touchdown in the waning seconds of the first half on junior quarterback Tyler Valle’s 29-yard touchdown pass to senior Hunter Ricks.
Except for this score, the Gaels may have allowed a few plays on defense but they didn’t break. Senior quad-captain Cody Kitson, Georgalas, classmates Rob Milne, Theo Hopnick and Ricky Raffaele and junior Bobby Rose led the way.
“Our defense was the difference in the game because they held them the whole time,” Roy said. “The special teams also did well.”
Kitson said, “We just practiced hard all week, read their formation and were able to come up on top.”
The Spartans had their chances to tie it because of two Shelton turnovers and Valle moved the ball well at times, but in the end, the Gaels came up with the big plays when they had to. Amity had a fourth-and-two on Shelton’s 9 but Georgalas forced Valle to throw it wide and senior Steven Leopold broke up the play.
This was only the first opportunity for the Spartans. They had a third-and-four on the Gaels’ 27 and Valle threw a screen pass for a completion to senior Sebastian Alberti but Georgalas tackled him for a four-yard loss to make it fourth-and-eight. On the ensuing play, the defense forced Valle to throw an errant pass, which senior Taylor Wright caught, but he was out of bounds because Georgalas and senior Dan Guerrera defended him well.
“We did their homework, studied what they had and the defense played well,” Georgalas said.
Amity had one last chance but Shelton junior Mike Dellolio recovered a fumble on a punt the Spartans tried to return to seal the deal.
Next up for the Gaels is an away game at Fairfield Prep (3 – 4) on Friday.
“We were banged up this week but we hope to have everyone back next week,” Kitson said.
