Howdy,

Less than 12 minutes remained Saturday afternoon, and St. Joseph trailed Ridgefield by 25 points.

This sucker was over.

St. Joseph had a golden chance to score with a first-and-goal at the Tigers’ 8-yard line. Nope. It began the fourth quarter with an incompletion on fourth down.

It was another wasted opportunity for the Cadets in a game where they’d done so little right.

"We were a little deflated," St. Joseph junior quarterback David Summers said, "but we knew that if we scored, our defense would just put on a show for the rest of the game."

There was nine minutes left, and St. Joseph still trailed by 25 points.

What followed was one of the most gonzo rallies in state history. The Cadets scored four touchdowns, including two after recovering back-to-back onside onside kicks, in five minutes and 20 seconds of lunacy.

Final score: St. Joseph 38. Ridgefield 35.

WHAT.

“I said at halftime (to them) down 21-10, ‘We can either go Darien and not play the second half, of we can go New Canaan and come out fired up’,” Cadets head coach Joe DellaVecchia said.

St. Joseph won at New Canaan in Week 1 by a score of, oddly enough, 38-35. Darien maimed the Cadets two weeks later, 42-10.

The Cadets trailed Ridgefield, 35-10, early in the fourth quarter.

“We kind of played Darien third quarter, and New Canaan fourth quarter,” DellaVecchia said. “What a comeback. And Ridgefield is a great team. They had their way most of the game.

“To be able to (come back), wow.”

St. Joseph's comeback was the fifth-largest in state history, according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book.

St. Joseph (1974), Bacon Academy (2010), Xavier (2012), and Wolcott (2013) all held the record with 28-point comebacks. All but Xavier, however, began their rallies after halftime.

Xavier trailed Hillhouse on Oct. 26, 2012. The Academics scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to take a seemingly insurmountable 49-21 lead. So while the Falcons didn’t have much time, they still had more time than the Cadets to pull out a 50-49 win.

There were other big problems for St. Joseph — Ridgefield, and itself.

The Tigers (3-2) were ranked 10th in The Day's coaches’ poll and played even better than that for most of it.

Ridgefield quarterback Greg Gatto sliced and diced St. Joseph’s defense through three quarters. The senior finished 33 of 45 passing for 424 yards and five touchdowns.

Jackson Mitchell was Gatto’s primary target and nigh unstoppable. The junior is a matchup nightmare at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds (to put that in perspective, Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons is 6-3, 220).

Mitchell had 16 catches for 254 yards and three touchdowns. He tied for the ninth-most catches in a game.

As for the No. 7 Cadets, yeesh. If Summers wasn't getting drilled by a Ridgefield defender, St. Joseph was making careless mistakes. They were flagged 11 times for 80 yards, including three on one drive late in the first half.

There was 8:08 left when sophomore Will Diamantis just got a foot down in the front left corner of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Summers. Luke Kirby made the extra point, but St. Joseph was still way behind.

The Cadets lined up for an onside kick.

Madness followed.

Senior Jared Mallozzi, St. Joseph’s all-state receiver, recovered Kirby's squib kick at the Ridgefield 39-yard line.

Six plays later, Mallozzi caught a 12-yard touchdown from Somers.

There was 6:31 left, and St. Joseph trailed 35-24.

Would the Cadets try another onside kick? Dang right they would, but with a twist. DellaVecchia had Kirby pooch it downfield.

The ball carried over the Tigers. St. Joseph senior Connor Murphy recovered the ball at the Ridgefield 25 near a frenzied Cadets sideline.

“I felt they were going to creep up a little bit,” DellaVecchia said about the Tigers special teams. “We were going to take a shot and sprint downfield. We had our speed guys over here (by our sideline), so we just took a shot. It paid off.”

There was 6:07 left and St. Joseph had the ball at the Tigers’ 18. Summers dropped back to pass. He had taken a beating all afternoon and gotten up slowly and limping more than once.

Summers took off running, though, when nothing developed and dove for the pylon as he was driven out of bounds. He thought he scored. He was ruled out at the 1.

Summers smiled and laughed, “oh well”, as he stood up. He scored on the next play. The two-point conversion failed.

“We’re young on the line,” DellaVecchia said. “The kids are working hard trying to protect (Summers), and then we’re passing every play (down double digits) and (Ridgefield is) teeing off (on him). So it’s hard, but he’s got a lot of guts.”

Summers said, “I’m not really feeling anything right now. I’ll probably feel it (Sunday) morning. It’s all right. The winning takes away from it (the pain). You wake up in the morning. … even if you’re sore, you’re still happy that you won. That helps.”

There was 5:53 left, and St. Joseph trailed 35-30.

DellaVecchia thought about a third onside kick but decided against it. Good call. Cadets junior Ace Luzietti batted down a pass on third-and-8 at the Ridgefield 39, forcing a punt.

There was 4:07, and St. Joseph had a chance to win the dang thing.

The Cadets had a third-and-4 from their own 38. The Tigers were called for pass interference.

First-and-10 for St. Joseph from the Ridgefield 47. Sophomore running back Jaden Shirden lined up in the left slot.

Shirden ran a wheel route down the Cadets' sideline and got behind the Tigers’ defense. Summers threw the ball just as he was being drilled in the gut for a 27-yard gain down to the Ridgefield 20.

Summers threw a 20-yard touchdown to junior Phil Pasmeg on the next play. He followed with a conversion pass to Mallozzi.

There was 2:48, and St. Joseph led 38-35.

Summers finished 31 of 45 passing for 331 yards and four touchdowns with an interception. Pasmeg had 14 catches for 187 yards and two scores.

“I think we have one of the best receiving corps in the state by far,” Summers said. “Pasmeg, he’s not getting the ball as much as he wants to this year, but today he really came out. I’m really good friends with him, so I put a lot of trust in him, and I know if I throw to him, he’ll get the ball.”

Ridgefield wasn’t done yet, though. It had a fourth-and-3 from its 17 when Gatto threw to Jackson, of course.

Jackson had lined up on the outside left, took a few steps to the 21, then dragged across the middle. He took off down the Cadets’ sideline before being knocked out at their 43.

Fourth-and-1 Ridgefield from the St. Joseph 34. Cadets sophomore defensive end Michael Morrissey (who batted down two passes) beat his blocker inside, forced Gatto to scramble away, and was trying to pull Gatto down by his jersey after falling to the ground.

Gatto threw an incompletion.

There was 9 seconds left, and St. Joseph was going to win the game.

“We knew what we had to do to win,” Summers said, “and I don’t think it ever crossed our mind that we couldn’t win this game.”

A very bald DellaVecchia rubbed his head and said, “They’re a loose bunch. They’ve made me lose my hair this year.”

We implore you to watch this video package of the game, edited, of course, by Sean Patrick Star from the GameTimeCT/Hearst Empire.

• • • •

GAWK SLACK-JAWED at The Day's Top 10 state coaches' poll: 1. Darien (5-0, received all 13 first-place votes); 2. Southington (5-0); 3. West Haven (6-0); 4. Ansonia (5-0); 5. Greenwich (3-0); 6. Windsor (5-0); 7. St. Joseph (3-1); 8. Masuk (4-0); 9. Middletown (5-0); and, 10. Shelton (4-1).

St. Joseph scored 28 unanswered points in the game’s final nine minutes to beat Ridgefield.

Hours later, Greenwich knocked off then-No. 6 New Canaan, the four-time Class L champion, 36-21.

Yep. The Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference over-delivered this weekend.

There were two FCIAC games this past weekend between teams ranked in The Day's Top 10 poll. It was guaranteed to alter the state rankings and CIAC playoff picture, no matter the result.

Greenwich got the coaches’ attention after snapping a six-game losing streak to the Rams and beating them for the first time since 2006. It moved up four spots.

St. Joseph moved up one spot.

New Canaan (3-2) dropped out of the Top 10, notable because its been a fixture the last 11 years. It’s won 12 state titles over the past 16 seasons and had both coaches and media buzzing during the preseason. It was the top-ranked team in the GameTimeCT/New Haven Register Top 10 media preseason poll.

Ridgefield also dropped out of the poll. Its other loss was to top-ranked Darien on opening night of the season (38-12).

Middletown and Shelton moved into the Top 10 for the first time this season.

• • • •

The GameTimeCT.com/New Haven Register/Hearst Inc. Top 10 media poll: The same order as the coaches' poll. FREAKY. Darien received all 24 first-place votes.

• • • •

Ned Freeman’s computer rankings at CalPreps.com: 1. Darien; 2. West Haven; 3. Greenwich; 4. St. Joseph; 5. Masuk; 6. New Canaan; 7. Southington; 8. Ridgefield; 9. Shelton; and, 10. Windsor.

Ansonia was No. 11 and Middletown 20th.

The computer ranks St. Joseph’s schedule the toughest and it’s not even close. It’s opponents are a combined 17-8 with games against Darien, New Canaan and Ridgefield.

• • • •

Dig the ballot Polecat HQ filed for the New Haven Register/GameTimeCT media poll:

1. Darien: It extended its winning streak to 30 games and has mashed all comers this year.

2. Greenwich: The big mover this week. You beat New Canaan, you earn respect.

3. West Haven: It's overall team speed is ludicrous. They're not the biggest team physically, but they make up for it by being physically vicious.

4. St. Joseph: The Cadets' offensive line has had their struggles, and they were a mess defensively for most of the Ridgefield game. Their passing game (and coaching) will keep them in every game, though.

5. Ansonia.

6. Masuk.

7. New Canaan: Yep, it lost twice. ... to Greenwich and St. Joseph. How many others teams wouldn't lose to that duo.

8. Southington.

9. Ridgefield: See New Canaan, but substitute Darien for Greenwich.

10. Windsor.

11. Shelton.

12. South Windsor.

13. Hand.

14. Killingly.

15. Fitch.

• • • •

NOTABLES~!

Jack Joyce completed 18 of 31 passes for 243 yards and five touchdowns as top-ranked Darien wrecked Staples 32-6. The Blue Wave allowed just eight first downs. … Zach Conlan scored his team’s first two touchdowns on runs of 46 and 60 yards and followed it up by intercepting a tipped pass to set up a third touchdown as No. 3 West Haven scored the game’s first 22 points and thumped Norwich Free Academy, 42-19. Chris Chance added 13 carries for 62 yards and scores and threw a 13-yard touchdown on a halfback option.

Gavin Muir was 18 of 27 passing for 183 yards with three yards and an interception and ran for a late 72-yard touchdown to put an exclamation point on No. 5 Greenwich’s 36-21 win over New Canaan. Tysen Comizio had 16 carries for 72 yards and a score for Greenwich and Jael Negron had two catches for 59 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Blizzard also had 11 tackles and 1½ sacks. Drew Pyne completed 20 of 31 passes for 280 yard with an interception and scored on a 1-yard run for the Rams and Owen Shin had 21 carries for 123 yards and a score.

Jack Roberge of No. 8 Masuk ran nine times against Amity. He gained 223 yards with two touchdowns in a 48-10 rout. Well then. Matt Hersch completed 14 of 19 passes for 288 yards and four touchdowns, Ryan Shaw had three catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns, and Nick Lorusso had three catches for 103 yards and two scores for the Panthers. Oh, and Jack Duignan had 12 tackles.

Jake Roberts (no, not that Jake Roberts) completed 20 of 33 passes for 311 yards with three touchdowns and an INT and scored on a 1-yard run as No. 10 Shelton edged Newtown, 35-28. Bit of a weird game as Shelton went ahead 21-0 after one quarter, and the Nighthawks came roaring back (or should it be screeching back cause, like, a Nighthawk is a bird).

Hollis Scott ran eight times for 64 yards and three touchdowns, turned a short pass into a 36-yard touchdown, and had a 38-yard scoop-and-score for Fitch in its 72-26 beating of Branford. Tyler Nelli completed 4 of 6 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns and ran 13 times for 166 yards. Getting dizzy with the FLEXBONE.

Not sure how Spencer Lockwood was able to rush for 244 yards and score just one touchdown for Killingly in its 35-0 over Bacon Academy. Maybe it’s like in the fake footballs when someone vultures the goal line carries away from your running back. Regardless, 244 rushing yards in sweet.

Jacob Sylvia threw three touchdowns and ran for another as Ledyard thumped Bassick, 43-0. … Manny Sanchez ran 30 times for 322 yards and four touchdowns as CREC downed Woodstock Academy, 40-32. ... Kyle Gordon threw a 34-yard touchdown to Jakari Walker 1:28 remaining as Norwalk edged Trumbull, 18-17.

Hand's defense stoned Bunnell as it held the latter to 122 yards in a 34-6 rout. ... Sam Adolf completed 5 of 11 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns and ran seven times for 64 yards and a score as Trinity Catholic downed Fairfield Ludlowe, 40-19. Josh Evans completed 31 of 55 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns for Ludlowe.

Brookfield's Matt Heelan went all T-1000 in the Bobcats’ 31-21 win over Guilford. Heelan scored on a 10-yard fumble return, forced a fumble that led to a touchdown, and an interception that set up a field goal. ... Joe Gjinaj had three of Fairfield Warde’s seven sacks along with 11 tackles in a 27-0 win over Danbury. Ryan Janz scored on a 35-yard interception on the game’s third play and Ali Al Rawendoozi (awesome name) had two sacks. Warde allowed the Hatters just 112 yards of offense.

Jack Ryan completed 15 of 23 passes for 348 yards with three touchdowns and a pick and ran for two more as Stratford beat Harding, 35-26. The game featured an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown (Harding’s Quran Blow), an 84-yard pass play for a touchdown (Brayden Seaburg from Ryan), and 60-yard touchdown run (Harding’s Coleman Adams). Jasen Droctuer had five catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns for Stratford. Blow added eight carries for 85 yards for the Presidents. And kudos, Harding, for giving 6-2, 330-pound nose guard Leon Hanley a goal line carry (the senior scored on a 4-yard run).

Let’s see what redonkulous stats Tyrese Wright of Bullard-Havens had this weekend in a 60-9 pasting of MCW UNITED. Completed 8 of 12 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns. Ran eight times for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Caught a 43-yard touchdown. Oh, he scored on a 73-yard kickoff return, too? WAIT A MINUTE — Tavon Smith had TWENTY FOUR TACKLES? Like, how is that humanly possible?

HATS OFF to Windham for having two 200-yard rushers (pumps fist in air) in its 38-32 win over Waterford, its first of the season. The Whippets ran 44 times for 546 yards and four touchdowns. Natanael Barbosa had 27 carries for 274 and two touchdowns, and Aaron Spicer had 11 carries for 220 yards and two scores.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. More soon.

Pleased to make your acquitance, John Cason.

Adios....