Sunday, October 18, 2009 5:27 PM EDT
By ANDREW LOVELL
Staff Writer
HARTFORD – There were dropped balls and turnovers, penalties and overall offensive inconsistencies. But there was also a key 44-8 win for the Southington football team Saturday afternoon against Weaver.
While the win outweighs the negatives, Southington coach Bill Mella said the offensive struggles need to be corrected.
"I thought we did some nice things," Mella said. "The ground game was alright [but] we have some things to work on. Thankfully we were able to put some big plays in and that we've got some talented young men to get the rock to."
Junior quarterback Connor Butkiewicz finished the game 7-of-20 passing for 200 yards and three touchdowns, all to wideout Anthony Florian.
"We had a couple big plays thanks to this young man right here," Mella said, gesturing to Florian. "He's extremely talented, as you can see. But you've got to remember that those kids down there [on Weaver], they work hard every day too and they did some nice things and we did struggle on offense. But that's why you play the game."
Things got off to inauspicious start for the Blue Knights when the Beavers recovered their own opening kickoff on a squib kick. Weaver was able to pick up a first down before turning it over on downs.
On the Blue Knights' second play from scrimmage, Butkiewicz hit Florian on a 10-yard curl route on the right side.
The senior wide receiver did the rest, shaking a would-be tackler and following his blockers down the middle of the field for a 67-yard score.
"Kyle Lentini made some really good blocks," Florian said. "I followed him, followed the receivers making blocks down field, made a few cuts and it just worked out."
Butkiewicz would continue to look for Florian for the rest of the game.
The two connected on a 28-yard touchdown strike in the third quarter, and again on a 34-yard wide receiver screen early in the fourth quarter.
Florian finished with 153 yards receiving on four receptions.
"It all starts with the offensive line protecting the quarterback," Florian said. "All I do is just run and catch the ball. The quarterback gets it to me, so a lot of credit to them."
Dylan Danko also had a busy day for the Blue Knights, collecting two rushing touchdowns (from four and 14 yards, respectively) and converting four of his six extra point tries.
As a collective unit, however, the Southington offense struggled. The team turned it over three times (two fumbles, one interception), a trend the Blue Knights have avoided to this point in the season.
The defense, coming off an impressive showing against New Britain, dominated the inexperienced Beavers, forcing two safeties and recovering a fumble in the endzone for a touchdown.
After Southington's first touchdown, Weaver found itself pinned deep in its own territory after Southington failed to score from inside the 10-yard line.
Junior linebacker Joe Pesce, who has two interception returns for touchdowns, was able to wrap up Weaver quarterback Jaquan Forde and sack him for the safety.
Late in the third quarter, with the Beavers once again backed up deep in their own territory, the punt snap sailed over the punter's head and out of the end zone.
And in the fourth quarter, sophomore defensive lineman Johnny Gradante was in the right place at the right time when another Weaver fumble reached their own end zone. Gradante fell on it for a Blue Knights touchdown.
Coming on the heels of the New Britain game, Mella said the continued improvement of the defense is a bright spot.
"I'm thrilled with how the boys came together and approached this week and decided that we were going to try and make a mark and get better ourselves," Mella said. "We've made it more about our team than about who we're playing, with the thought process of that being, if we can get better, how much better can we get? Because we're going to have competition every week and we're only not even midway through the season yet."
Weaver was able to avoid the shutout by scoring on the game's final play. Forde connected with wide receiver Carlos Colon in the far left corner of the end zone for the Beavers' second offensive touchdown of the year.
The Blue Knights sit at 3-2, while Weaver fell to 0-5.
"The guys feel OK, feel good about finally putting two together," Mella said. "It's been a while. If we just keep on taking our approach one at a time, a practice a day, I think we'll be able to enjoy some of the success and then just keep building on it."
