All the hard work is paying off for NFA's Joyner
Howdy,
Norwich Free Academy’s Miles Joyner is quickly making a name for himself.
Joyner, a junior defensive back, had a momentum-swinging interception return in the final seconds of the first half of Friday’s 34-6 win over Griswold. He stepped in front of a pass and raced 49 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats a 20-0 edge.
“We had good coverage on it and when I got the ball, I was determined to return it,” Joyner said. “I wasn’t going to stop until I got to the end zone.”
NFA coach Jemal Davis said that while the pick-six certainly changed momentum on the scoreboard, it did more emotionally for his team because it was Joyner who did it.
“Miles was a JV player last year, and this year he was No. 3 on the depth chart in the spring,” Davis said. “Then he had a phenomenal camp, and it was like, ‘Where did this kid come from?’
“To see him take what he has done in practice and apply it to the field, that’s what the kids were motivated by coming into the locker room.”
Joyner has two interceptions and now one touchdown in two games.
“That’s a pretty good way to start off your career,” Davis said with a smile.
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A lack of production from Montville's tailbacks in the first two game prompted head coach Tanner Grove to call on Joe Satiro, who gets a lot of snaps on defense but hadn't played at all offensively.
The junior responded by carrying 24 times for 139 yards, a touchdown, and — most importantly for Montville — no fumbles.
"I'm definitely happy," Satiro said. "You can do a lot worse. But we have a great line, a lot of seniors, and they did the job up front."
Grove said, "We love him. He's been in the program for three years, he's the ultimate team guy. He's never in three years been a me-me-me type kid.
He's a real tough kid who gets after it every day."
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Ledyard — JOY — is running GOD’S OFFENSE, i.e. the double wing, made famous around these here parts by Mike Emery and Fitch.
Colonels’ assistant coach Bob Brackett is a major part of Ledyard’s transtion from a shotgun spread team to a system in which the players are tightly bunched together. Brackett ran the run-heavy, ball-control offense when he was the head coach at Griswold.
Manny Sanabria ran 34 times for 291 yards and three touchdowns in Friday’s 35-6 win over New London in the continuation of one of the area’s fiercest rivalries.
“It was definitely tough to go to the dark side,” Colonels’ head coach Jim Buonocore quipped. “Bob’s obviously as big fan of it. He’s very excited. We’ve learned a lot about it over the years because it’s been an offense that we’ve had to defend quite a bit. But in terms of us introducing it to our kids, Bob’s been a great resource. He ran it at Griswold. Very knowledgable. He’s been our rock.”
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Stonington finally was able to capitalize on a 13-play, 65-yard drive with 5:10 remaining in Friday night's 18-6 loss to Bacon Academy, rushing on all 13 plays before scoring on a 2-yard run to the right by Tyler Burnside.
Burnside, a senior, led Stonington (0-4) with 20 carries for 92 yards. The Bears had 48 rushing attempts for 161 yards in all on a rainy night in which they were unable to complete a pass, several drives that threatened against Bacon before being derailed.
“We get a lot of repetitions,” Stonington coach A.J. Massengale said of the strength of the running game. “We just, go, go, go, as many reps as we can get. (Steve) Burnside is coaching our offensive line and he's doing a great job with those kids.”
Massengale credited Nate Wheeler with anchoring the line.
“He's a senior. A big kid. A bright kid. A good, hard-working Stonington kid,” Massengale said. “… We have to have that ability to execute 12, 13, 14 plays in a row. It's challenging to do that.”
The Bears ran off a nine-play drive in the first half before being intercepted in the end zone, with Burnside picking up a pair of first-down runs.
Said Massengale, complimenting the Bears on their improvement so far: “A lot of teams don't get better when they're losing games. They choose to get better.”
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A sideline observer, when noticing NFA's Jawaun Johnson lined up to return punts Friday night against Griswold, questioned why a team would put their quarterback back there.
Then, upon further thought came the realization that Johnson probably wouldn't have a chance to return a punt anyway, so it was all a moot point.
It wasn't.
Griswold's punter, who was supposed to kick the ball out of bounds, ended up kicking in Johnson's direction with four minutes, 40 seconds left in the second quarter.
Johnson grabbed the ball near the Wolverines sideline, sprinted to his right across the field, made a spin move to elude would-be tacklers, then stiff-armed another on his way to a 40-yard touchdown return.
It was the first time Johnson ever returned punts.
"Coach (Jemal Davis) put me back there," Johnson said. "When we were watching the film, we saw that they kicked the ball to the hashes a lot so I got myself over there a little bit. It came to me, and when I saw the hole, I was gone."
Johnson ran 16 times for 167 yards and a touchdown and threw for another.
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Montville went 4-for-4 on PAT attempts, which would be otherwise unnoteworthy if not for the kicker.
Tamara Veillette became the first female kicker to ever play for the Indians (let alone score), and according to Grove, “is on the very short list of female players at Montville.”
“The guys have embraced her as one of their own,” Grove said of the former soccer player. “We give her the same hard time as the guys, probably more so because when she’s doing her job, everyone is watching.”
Veillette said there was a lot that went into her decision to try football but she certainly doesn’t sound like someone who regrets it.
“It’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said. “It’s life-changing.”
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The East Lyme at Montville game was moved up to last Thursday night in hopes of avoiding the wet weather on Friday.
Tanner Grove ended up soaking wet anyway.
The Indians coach was the recipient of a water-bucket bath following his team’s 28-0 win, which was the 71st in his career and made him the winningest coach in program history. Mike Emery had 70 wins as Montville coach.
“It’s a lot of kids who have done a lot of great things for us,” said Grove, now in his 10th season. “Every day — the best of days, the worst of days — coming to work has been a joy because of the kids. I’m just very proud and honored to be the coach in my hometown.”
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Everyone at Polecat HQ would like to thank Mike DiMauro, Vickie Fulkerson, and Steve Nalbandian for providing the material for this here Polecat.
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Thanks for reading. (Much) more online Tuesday.
Vaya con dios.
Twitter: @MetalNED
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