Class LL Championship Recap and Boxscore – Darien 42 Fairfield Prep 7

By Ned Griffen

Special to CIACSports.com

Trumbull — If there were any questions about who is the number one team in the state, then Darien went out of its way to erase all doubts on Saturday.

The third-seeded Blue Wave harassed, bashed and smashed top-seeded Fairfield Prep to win its eight CIAC state championship, 42-7, at McDougall Field.

Darien finished 12-1 and seems like a lock to finish first in both The Day of New London state coaches’ and the GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register media polls.

“I think it was just people out there felt that we were a little subject because we had lost to New Canaan (12-7 on Thanksgiving),” Darien head coach Mike Forget replied when asked about his team’s dominance.

“I think the guys wanted to come out and send a message today.”

Tighe Cummiskey was the workhorse for Darien (12-1) as he ran 25 times for 188 yards and a touchdown. Jeremiah Stafford added seven carries for 74 yards and three scores.

Miles Drake completed 7 of 11 passes for 102 yards, including a touchdown to Matt Minicus (2 catches, 62) yards. Drake also scrambled for a 19-yard touchdown.

The Blue Wave’s defense was relentless and held Prep (11-2) to 117 total yards. It had just one first down and 18 yards at halftime.

Cole Murphy had three sacks and David Evanchick had a sack and recovered a fumble for Darien.

“The offense has showed up some games,” Murphy said. “The defense has showed up on others. Today it came together. The offense was buzzing. The defense was going. We finally got both sides just working together as one unit which I felt was a little bit hard this season but when we worked together, the scoreboard shows (it).”

Connor Smith completed 17 of 29 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown for the Jesuits.

Cummiskey burst through the middle on Darien’s second possession and ran for a 40-yard touchdown with 6 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

Drake threw a 12-yard touchdown to Minicus as the Blue Wave extended their lead to 14-0 with 1:42 left in the first half.

Drake scrambled for a 19-yard touchdown as Darien pushed its lead to 21-0 with 7:50 remaining in the third quarter.

A bad snap on a Prep punt attempt was recovered by Evanchick at the Jesuits’ 25-yard line. It led to a 4-yard touchdown run by Stafford as the Blue Wave went ahead 28-0 with 4:03 left in the third.

Stafford scored again, this time on a 56-yard run, to give Darien a 35-0 lead with 32 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Stafford ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 4:32 left in the game.

The Jesuits finally scored on their final drive with Tim Pearson catching a 13-yard touchdown pass from Connor Smith with 1:37 remaining.

 

Darien                                   7     7    21    7—42

Bloomfield                            0     0    0     7—7

First Quarter

D — Tighe Cummiskey 40 run (Isaac McMullin kick)

Second Quarter

D — Matt Minicus 12 pass from Miles Drake (McMullin kick)

Third Quarter

D — Drake 19 run (McMullin kick)

D — Jeremiah Stafford 4 run (McMullin kick)

D — Stafford 56 run (McMullin kick)

Fourth Quarter

D — Stafford 8 run (McMullin kick)

FP — Tim Pearson 13 pass from Connor Smith (Aidan Graham kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Darien, Tighe Cummiskey 25-188, Jeremiah Stafford 7-74, Miles Drake 3-11, Matt Minicus 1-6, Ryan Felt 1-(-2). Fairfield Prep, Dan Barnick 10-17; Connor Smith 10-(-25), Wally Wuchiski 1-1, Team, 1-(-14)

PASSING — Darien, Miles Drake 7-11-102. Fairfield Prep, Connor Smith 17-29-138.

RECEIVING — Darien, Matt Minicus 2-62, John Wilson 2-38, Tighe Cummiskey 1-1, Jeremiah Stafford 1-1. Fairfield Prep, Tim Pearson 5-46, Tymaine Smith 5-30, James Iaropoli 3-33, Jack Reiling 3-18, Dan Barnick 1-11.

 

 

 

 

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