Class M State Championship Recap: Notre Dame-West Haven 35 Berlin 8

Ned Griffen – Special to CIACSPORTS

East Hartford — Notre Dame of West Haven’s defense smothered unbeaten Berlin and allowed just 108 yards to win the CIAC Class M championship at Rentschler Field 35 to 8.

It was the fourth CIAC state title for the second-seeded Green Knights (9-3).

“We’re not new to the Wing-T,” Notre Dame running back-linebacker Jacob Staton said. “You’ve got to hit them in their face or else their drive on you three, four yards (at a time).”

Matthew Piechota completed 17 of 25 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns and ran 10 times for 59 yards for Notre Dame. Staton added 23 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

Mattaeo Petruzziello caught four passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns for the Green Knights and Ralph Sarno caught an 18-yard touchdown pass.

Dominick Basti and William Panza each had an interception for ND and James Lowman and Christian Lewis each had a sack.

“They’re very, very good,” Redcoats head coach Joe Aresimowicz said about the Green Knights. “Every time we thought we had a hole, No. 6 (linebacker Cooper Torrey) would come (through), No. 23 (Staton) would come (through). No. 55 (defensive lineman Joshua Kuczynski) was a bear on the line.

“Sometimes, you just tip your hat and say they were the better team. We didn’t play well. That didn’t help.”

Top-seeded Berlin finished 12-1.

Piechota threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Sarno to give ND a 6-0 lead to end the first quarter. The extra point failed.

Staton ran for a 10-yard touchdown and Piechota threw a pass to Robert Torres on the conversion attempt as the Green Knights went ahead, 14-0, with 6 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first half.

Mattaeo Petruzziello caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Piechota as Notre Dame pushed its lead to 21-0 with 3:37 left in the third quarter.

Staton scored on an 8-yard run less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Piechota threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Petruzziello on a fourth-and-10 play to extend the Green Knights lead to 35-0 with 5:15 remaining.

Josh Grimm caught a 34 touchdown pass from Lorenzo Miele with 2:47 left in the game. Miele followed with a conversion pass to Kyle Melville.

 

Notre Dame-W.H.                                                                6              8              7              14—35

Berlin                                                                                   0              0              0              8—8

 

First Quarter

ND — Ralph Sarno 18 pass from Matthew Piechota (kick failed)

Second Quarter

ND — Jacob Staton 10 run (Robert Torres pass from Piechota)

Third Quarter

ND — Mattaeo Petruzziello 13 pass from Piechota (Davin Garamella kick)

Fourth Quarter

ND — Staton 8 run (Garamella kick)

ND — Petruzziello 18 pass from Piechota (Garamella kick)

B — Josh Grimm 34 pass from Lorenzo Miele (Kyle Melville pass from Miele)

 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Notre Dame-W.H., Jacob Staton 23-94; Matthew Piechota 10-59; Jonathan Evans 4-28, Robert Torres 1-3; William Panza 1-0. Berlin, Josh Clement 9-34, Lorenzo Miele 5-8, Toby Lavender 4-14, Luke Maguder 3-4, Kyle Melville 1-1.

PASSING — Notre Dame-W.H., Piechota 17-25-0-221. Berlin, Miele 6-15-2-40, Lavender 1-1-0-9.

RECEIVING — Notre Dame-W.H., Robert Torres 6-52, Petruzziello 4-65, Staton 4-42, William Panza 3-44, Ralph Sarno 1-18. Berlin, Maguder 2-0, Josh Grimm 1-34, Miele 1-9, Ryan Lavender 1-6, Elijah Santos 1-1, Mason Memery 1-(-1).

 

 

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.