Friday, November 13, 2009 10:51 PM EST
By Andrew Lovell
Staff Writer
SOUTHINGTON — Jonathan Esposito ran for 327 yards and four touchdowns on 42 carries as the Conard football team remained undefeated with a 40-20 win at Southington Friday night.
The Chieftains (9-0) also returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns and collectively forced four Southington turnovers in the victory.
“I don’t think you can point to one thing,” Mella said. “Certainly when you turn the ball over more than you get the ball back, you don’t win ball games. It’s as simple as that. From pee-wee to the NFL, if you lose the turnover ratio, you lose ball games. They capitalized immediately on three of them. ... They did a good job, that’s a good football over there.”
Conard opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 33-yard touchdown run by Esposito that capped a seven-play, 68-yard drive. The Chieftains ran Esposito all seven times on the drive.
Southington would answer back in the second quarter on a 17-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Connor Butkiewicz to wide receiver Tyler Dube.
But on their next possession, Conard marched 75 yards down the field, punctuating the 10-play drive with a 15-yard touchdown run by Esposito. On that drive, Esposito ran the ball nine of the 10 plays.
On Southington’s next play from scrimmage, however, the Chieftains’ defense would come up with its first big play of the game.
Conard’s Brady Collins intercepted a Butkiewicz pass out in the right flat and sprinted 28 yards untouched down the sidelines to put Conard up 18-6.
The Chieftains carried that lead into halftime, but extended it on their second play from scrimmage in the second half, when Esposito broke free for a 69-yard touchdown run.
“They do one thing and they do it well and they’re not going to change until you make them change,” Mella said. “In the second half, we made them change it. But we just couldn’t beat the turnover bug.”
Later in the third quarter, Butkiewicz again connected with Dube on a touchdown strike, this one from 19 yards out to cut the lead to 25-12.
But Conard’s defense slammed the door early in the fourth quarter with a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown by Jerry Rivera.
On the Blue Knights’ next possession, Butkiewicz was stripped on a quarterback sneak by Esposito, who proceeded to pick up the loose ball and advance it some 25 yards.
That set up the junior running back’s fourth rushing score of the day, this one coming from 33 yards out.
Butkiewicz would connect again with Dube (12 receptions, 146 yards) on a touchdown pass, but it was too little, too late for Southington, which dropped to 5-4 on the season.
Butkiewicz finished the game 22-of-54 passing for 282 yards.
Dylan Danko chipped in 71 rushing yards on 15 carries, while Anthony Florian (five receptions, 46 yards) and Mike Rhodd (three receptions, 70 yards) were effective in the passing game.
Southington’s Rob Krawczyk intercepted Conard quarterback Ryan deLoureiro’s only passing attempt in the game late in the third quarter.
But the game was simply dominated by Esposito, who moved into sole possession of the Conard single-season rushing touchdowns record.
“Great runner,” Mella said. “He’s really good coming downhill. And I think he’d give an awful lot of credit to the offensive line. ... I think his talent, coupled with their team effort, was great.”
Conard hosts Hall in their regular-season finale next Saturday afternoon, while Southington wraps up the season at Cheshire Thanksgiving morning.
