Submitted by Victoria O’Brien.
(Sept. 18, 2019) — The Haddam Killingworth Youth Football teams took to the road again this week, traveling down the road to Coginchaug High School’s turf field. B, C and D squads took on the Durham Falcons while HK’s A squad battled East Hartford.
A special teams touchdown by Cooper Savoy led the Cougars A squad in a day of big plays against the East Hartford Hornets. The Hornets, who have won 21 out of their last 22 games, were overmatched early by a series of turnovers and long touchdown runs. Three plays after the heads up Savoy touchdown, Clark Burleson read the ball well to make the first of his 2 interceptions and returned the ball to the Hornets 30. On the next play, the Cougar’s Michael Seward (7 carries, 108yds. 3 TDs) ran off the left side with Luke Dooley, Chris Frasco and John O’Brien blocking for a 30 yard touchdown run. On the ensuing kickoff, Clark Burleson once again found himself in the fray, coming up with a Hornets fumble. The Cougars capitalized on the next play with a 39 yard touchdown run off the left side by Noah Conlon (12 carries, 66 yds. 1 TD) slipping tackles and putting the Cougars up 22-0. The Hornets came back with a quick 45 yard touchdown drive. On the following kickoff, Michael Seward powered his way to an 80 yard return for a touchdown.
To start the second half, East Hartford scored a touchdown on a 4 yard run in spite of the great effort by Cooper Pitts, Carlee Harwood and Wyatt Solosky. On the next Cougar possession, Michael Seward had a 38 yard run to move the ball to the Hornets 5 yard line. Nick Fox plunged into the middle for a touchdown led by the blocking of Wyatt Solosky and Sullivan Rock. East Hartford returned the following kickoff for a touchdown making the score 36-19. A 38 yard pass from Seward to Burleson put the ball in Hornet’s territory. Seward then scored on a 20 yard cutback run for a final score of 44-25.
The Cougar defense was stout all day, led up front by the continuous pressure and relentless pursuit on the quarterback by Ben Cozean (3 sacks, 8 tackles and 1 blocked kick). Noah Conlon (4 tackles) and Michael Seward (5 tackles) were dominate at the defensive ends. Cooper Savoy, Nick Fox and Peter Guarino combined for a strong linebacker core. The secondary was led by Clark Burleson and the great run support by Eric Vincent (4 tackles) and Chase Smalley. The Cougars move to 2-0 on the season.
It was a tough Sunday for the Cougars B squad as they took on the Durham Falcons. Durham scored quickly in the first quarter making it an uphill battle for HK right out of the gate. Quarterback Josiah Bourne helped the Cougars get on the board with a handoff touchdown pass to Hunter Roth. HK gave up a few possessions due to interceptions but never gave up. The Cougars added six more points in the second half when Hunter Roth ran in for another touchdown. Ultimately, HK fought hard but came up short to Durham. Final score Durham 19 HK 12.
The Cougar C squad offense came alive in their game against the Durham Falcons. Behind strong line play from Kyle House, Owen Hill, Willy Sulzbach and Evan O’Neal, the Cougar offense gained 392 yards in the game. Leading the offense were quarterback Lucas Norko (65 passing yards with a TD and 5-51-1 rushing), fullback Noah Soucie (8-123-1) and tailback Marcel Inkel (3-103-1). Also scoring cougar TD’S were Trevor Powell, Tim Hickman and Kyle House. The Cougar defense was solid all game long holding the Falcons to 68 yards total for the game. Defensive leaders for the day included Soucie, Hickman, Miles Norko, Evan Vincent and Aiden Russo. The final score HK 38 Durham 7.
D squad’s “Mighty Eight” showed all the grit and determination needed to win a hard fought battle. The game didn’t start the way they had hoped with a couple guys getting banged up and the defense not able to make a stop. Each team scored on their first possession of the game. The Durham Falcons scored on their second series to take a 13-7 lead. The Cougar offense turned the ball over on back to back plays, each followed by a Falcons scoring drive to put their backs against the wall. The lone bright spot in the first half was a massive 53yd touchdown run from Maddox McNamara. Back to full strength, the offense showed late in the first half that they would be a force to be reckoned with the rest of the game. They drove the ball down to the one yard line on a two minute drill but a fumbled snap foiled that scoring attempt. The halftime score 26-7.
Offense got the ball to start the second half and scored on a long touchdown run from Isaac Edwards and cut the deficit 26-13 with the failed extra point attempt. It was the defense’s turn to show that the first half wasn’t their brand of football, and they did just that. Quickly stopping the Falcons offense and getting the ball, and momentum back to the offense. This series featured an over excited group of guys that couldn’t get going after a few fumbled snaps and a fumbled exchange the ball was back over on downs to the Falcons. The defense once again showed that there is no quit in this team, forcing a turnover on downs. A fourth down touchdown run from Edwards and the successful PAT cut the lead down to 26-20 midway through the 4th quarter. With time running short the defense needed to make a play for the offense to have a chance, and they did just that. With a fumbled snap rolling around on the ground, McNamara pounced on the loose ball. Cougars offense took over around midfield with about 6 minutes remaining. Behind strong inside running from Michael Hardgrove and great blocking up front the Cougars were down inside the 5 yard line just inside of 2 minutes when the Falcons called a time out. After a couple unsuccessful attempts from the 1 yard line, the Cougars called the QB sneak with Jacob House. With a strong push up with middle, House was in for the tying touchdown with 44 seconds remaining. The Cougars needed the PAT to take the lead and turned to Edwards, who churned out a tough 3 yards to secure the lead. Comeback complete. Defense took the field and made a couple big plays before the clock hit 00:00. Final score HK 27 Durham 26.
The Haddam Killingworth Youth Cougars host South Windsor in their first homestand of the season this Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019. Home games are held at Killingworth Recreational Park on Parker Hill Rd. Games this weekend are as follows:
- 9 am: B squad
- 11 am: A squad
- 1 pm: C squad
- 3 pm: D squad
Photo of Cheer by Rebecca Drew.
Photo of B Squad Slane by Laura Napierkowski.
