Narcisse, Windsor knocks off Southington

By ANDREW LOVELL
Staff Writer

WINDSOR — One week after burning the New Britain football team with his legs, Windsor quarterback Pierre Narcisse used his right arm to get the best of the Southington Blue Knights.

Narcisse completed 18 of his 23 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Warriors to a 24-21 win Friday night.

"Narcisse is a real talented athlete," Southington coach Bill Mella said. "He’s got a great arm."

The senior’s cannon was on full display against the Blue Knights, particularly in the second half.

After a 17-yard touchdown pass from Connor Butkiewicz to Anthony Florian put Southington back on top 21-17 with 8:38 left in the game, Narcisse went to work on what would turn out to be the game-winning drive.

After a false start penalty and a short loss on a swing pass backed the Warriors up, Windsor was bailed out by a flag for a Southington late hit on a second-down play that was well short of the first-down marker.

Two plays later, Narcisse turned a broken play into a tutorial on improvisation.

Narcisse took the snap on second-and-five and looked to his receivers on his right. Nothing.

Narcisse, feeling the heat of a pair of Southington defensive lineman then scrambled out to his left, narrowly avoiding two sacks.

With his left hand, Narcisse pointed some 45 yards away to Brian McClain, who was wide open in the left side of the end zone.

Narcisse cocked back and unleashed a pinpoint pass, throwing on the run across his body to connect with McClain for the go-ahead score.

Still, Southington regained possession with 7:29 remaining, plenty of time for an offense that posted 47 and 46 points, respectively, in its first two games.

After a 17-yard completion from Butkiewicz to Tyler Dube on third down moved the chains, the Warriors forced a critical turnover.

Southington running back Dylan Danko (23 carries, 101 yards, one touchdown) broke up the left side for a 12-yard run, but was stripped at the end of the play by Windsor’s Stanley Aguh. Jayson Johnson came up with the fumble recovery for Windsor.

Southington wasn’t about to go quietly though, as it forced Windsor into a three-and-out.

But Windsor returned the favor on the next series, forcing three straight incompletions by Butkiewicz.

Windsor took over and ran the clock out from that point to secure the win.

"That’s a really good team," Mella said. "Windsor’s a really good team, Rob Fleeting’s a heck of a coach and he’s got his kids well prepared. You can’t take anything away from them."

Southington notched the game’s first score on its third possession in the first quarter, scoring on a nine-yard touchdown run by Danko. Danko carried the Blue Knights down the field on the drive, carrying the ball six times for 36 yards.

"A lot of times you have to look at what the defense is giving you and they were dropping eight and trying to thwart some of that passing attack," Mella said of the team’s decision to feature a heavy dosage of Danko on the ground. "So obviously when you do that, if there’s only five in the box ... you’re definitely going to try to take advantage of that. I thought Danko ran really hard, I thought he did a great job."

Danko also converted the extra point kick to put Southington up 7-0.

Windsor would answer later in the second quarter on an eight-yard touchdown run by Narcisse.

A decent punt return put the Warriors in business at the Southington 35-yard line.

Narcisse proceeded to lead his squad down the field, completing three straight passes to cover 27 yards. On first-and-goal from the eight-yard line, Narcisse took the snap and raced toward the right corner of the end zone for the tying score.

On its next possession, Southington pieced together an 11-play, three-and-a-half-minute drive, punctuating it with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Butkiewicz to Mike Rhodd.

After hitting Danko for a crucial fourth-down conversion on the previous play, Butkiewicz unleashed a rain-making jump-ball for Rhodd down the left sideline.

Rhodd, using his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame to out-jump the Windsor defense, came down with the ball to put Southington on top just before the half.

The loss leaves Southington at 1-2 heading into next Friday’s showdown with New Britain at Rentschler Field.

But Mella and his team aren’t panicking. Not by a long shot.

"The good news is this is week three and we get to wake up and go to week four and five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 and hopefully 11 and 12," Mella said. "Look at our conference. Right now, we’re 1-2, but everybody’s got to play [Windsor], everybody’s still got to play us, everybody’s got to play New Britain, everybody’s got to play Hall, Glastonbury. I’m telling you ... this conference is tough. It’s a hard, hard schedule. We’re going to end up pounding the crumb out of each other and somebody’s still going to get into the playoffs."