Deep River — We're talking about the team, Valley Regional/Old Lyme, which unexpectedly upended football power Ansonia for the state championship a few years ago.

So, really. So what if Valley wasn't supposed to scored three unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter Tuesday night, all while smothering high-powered Berlin in the quarterfinals of the Class M state tournament.

The top-seeded Warriors did all that anyway, conquering a seemingly impossible rainstorm and Berlin 30-12 to advance to Monday's semifinals against No. 5 St. Joseph.

“We weren't supposed to beat 'em,” said Valley coach Tim King, ticking off a list of things he said he read about his team leading up to Tuesday's matchup. “We were outmatched. We're too small. They played in a better conference. They beat New Britain.”

“We knew they were hyped up coming in,” Valley quarterback Matt Sapere said of Berlin. “We came out the most fired up we've ever been.”

Sapere, Valley's even-keeled senior, rushed for 187 yards and three touchdowns in the first half and also threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Jean-Pierre in weather that defied passing. Garrett Burdick added a pair of interceptions to bring his school record total to 12 for Valley, which won its seventh straight game to go to 10-1.

Sapere ran for a 60-yard touchdown on the game's first play from scrimmage.

Berlin, meanwhile, on its first drive out of the double wing, was penalized twice for false starts and failed to gain a first down.

The Redcoats (8-3) continued their string of bad luck.

A 26-yard run by Sapere set up the touchdown pass to Jean-Pierre to make it 14-0 and Berlin fumbled on its next drive, giving Valley the ball at the Berlin 11. Sapere ran it in for a touchdown on second down and Burdick's kick made it 21-0 with 2 minutes, 51 seconds still remaining in the first quarter.

Berlin continued its onslaught of penalties and also lost multi-dimensional senior quarterback Jack Hamel (822 yards passing, 641 yards rushing entering the game) prior to the end of the quarter due to what was thought to be a pinched nerve in his leg.

Without Hamel, the Redcoats switched from the double wing to the spread and back to the double wing, utilizing both freshman running back Larry St. Pierre and sophomore junior varsity quarterback Kevin Dunn at QB to try to get things jumpstarted.

“We didn't play our best game in any aspect,” said Berlin coach Joe Aresimowicz, whose team topped New Britain 28-25 in overtime on Nov. 18 to clinch the Redcoats a playoff berth. “… We probably had 14 penalties.”

Berlin was intercepted by Burdick at the goal line in the second quarter, followed by an 89-yard touchdown run down the left side by Sapere, again on the first play of the drive.

Sapere credited two things for his running game Tuesday: his offensive line and a Valley scouting report he read earlier in the day which didn't include his name.

“My offensive line played the best game they played all season,” Sapere said.

Of an article he read previewing the game, Sapere (1,482 yards, 21 TDs passing entering the game) said: “It was Berlin's article and it said there were two players to watch out for, running back Dan Stecher and wide receiver Garrett Burdick. It really (ticked) me off. They didn't even mention me.”

“He took it to heart,” King said of Sapere. “He was kind of like, 'Give me the ball a little bit here.' And the offensive line did a really good job. We knew going in we got some pretty good athletes and we're playing pretty good football. And we could have had a shutout. The kids felt confident.”

Berlin got on the scoreboard with 2:46 remaining on a 21-yard run by Mitch Maslowski and Valley promptly fumbled, sending King into a rant about possibly losing. Maslowski scored again with 1:51 to play on a 30-yard pass by Dunn, too, but that would be all for the Redcoats.

“To be the underdogs and all the stuff that I read about how terrible we are,” King said, “I am absolutely blown away.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com