So, Waterbury Career Academy beat Sacred Heart/Kaynor Tech, 72-70
We bring you this very special Polecat to let you know that Waterbury Career Academy beat Sacred Heart/Kaynor Tech on Thursday night, 72-70.
WHAT.
(Go directly to the Waterbury Rep-Am's website and read Kountry Kyle Brennan's game story, although referring to it as a game may be pushing it).
The two teams set a state record by combining for 142 points. They easily passed the previous mark (133) set when St. Joseph beat Ledyard, 84-49, in a CIAC Class M quarterfinal on Dec. 3, 2013.
It was only a matter of time before that Class M game as would be topped because of football's advances in offense, coupled with the rules committee's war on defenses.
Still, 142 points? That's Big 12 territory.
“I'm embarrassed because I'm the defensive coordinator, but hey, we won,” WCA coach Pete Flammia told Kountry Kyle Brennan of the Waterbury Republican-American.
(We hope someone posts video of the game online with "Yakety Sax" overdubbed on it.)
WCA trailed 64-50 to start the fourth quarter when it scored 22 unanswered points.
Josiah Rivers scored on a 20-yard run with nine minutes, 48 seconds left. Kyren Petteway’s 2-point conversion run cut the Hearts’ lead to 64-58.
Rivers recovered a Sacred/Kaynor fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give the Spartans the ball at their own 48.
Petteway ran for an 8-yard touchdown and another 2-point conversion to put WCA on top, 66-64, with 6:16 to play.
WCA turned the Hearts over on downs on their next drive at the Spartans’ 47.
Rivers scored on a 6-yard run to push WCA’s edge to 72-64 with 4:36 remaining. The conversion failed.
The Hearts came right back and scored on Tiron Ferris’ 1-yard run. The conversion attempt to tie the game failed.
Rivers recovered Sacred/Kaynor’s onside kick attempt at his the Spartans’ 45, but. ... they turned the ball over on downs at their own 46 with 30 seconds left.
Trey Dawson threw two incomplete passes to end the game.
Let it be known that the MANLY DISCIPLINE OF THE RUNNING ARTS beat the cowardly forward pass in Thursday’s game.
Rivers ran 33 times for 302 yards with six touchdowns for WCA (3-3). Petteway added 22 carries for 127 yards and three touchdowns, threw another, and set a state-record with six 2-point conversions in a game. He attempted just nine passes.
Dawson completed 27 of 39 passes for 446 yards and six touchdowns with two interceptions for the Hearts (3-3). Tyler Rudolph had 12 catches for 219 yards and four touchdowns and Courie Stevenson added 10 catches for 150 yards and a score.
Adding to the game’s weirdness is that WCA scored so many points on 457 yards rushing. It's a very good total, but not outrageous given the number of points. It wouldn’t crack the top 25 for most rushing yards in a game, according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book.
By comparison, Torrington ran for a state-record 853 yards in a 65-21 romp over Sacred Heart on Nov. 11, 2012.
Avon is second on that list with 707 rushing yards in a 62-34 rout of Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby in 2014.
NFA is third with 676 yards rushing during its 74-38 mauling of Bacon Academy in 2014.
WCA needed just 457 yards rushing (and 38 yards passing) to get to 72 points. And it did so on 58 carries for a 7.9 average. Again, impressive numbers, but it wasn’t as if it was gaining chunks of yardage at a time to get to 457.
It’s as if the Spartans were playing on an Arena football field.
Brennan said both teams started most of their drives with very generous field position and would detail it in an upcoming story.
Here’s the box score Brennan filed for the Rep-Am:
WATERBURY CAREER ACADEMY 72, SACRED HEART/KAYNOR TECH 70
SH/KT 15 14 35 6 — 70
WCA 6 22 22 22 — 72
SH—Tyler Rudolph 37 pass from Trey Dawson (David Kulla kick)
WCA—Josiah Rivers 2 run (run failed)
SH—Rudolph 80 kickoff return (Tiron Ferris run)
WCA—Kyren Petteway 5 run (run failed)
WCA—Rivers 9 run (Petteway run)
SH—Joel Guzman 15 pass from Dawson (Kulla kick)
SH—Tyler Gendron 35 pass from Dawson (Kulla kick)
WCA—Rivers 11 run (Petteway run)
SH—Courie Stevenson 45 pass from Dawson (Kulla kick)
WCA—Petteway 30 run (run failed)
SH—Rudolph 20 pass from Dawson (Kulla kick)
WCA—Rivers 80 run (Petteway run)
SH—Ferris 5 run (Ferris run)
SH—Ferris 11 run (kick blocked)
WCA—Jadan Battle 15 pass from Petteway (Petteway run)
SH—Rudolph 65 pass from Dawson (Kulla kick)
WCA—Rivers 20 run (Petteway run)
WCA—Petteway 8 run (Petteway run)
WCA—Rivers 6 run (run failed)
SH—Ferris 1 run (pass failed)
Individual statistics
Rushing: SH — Joel Guzman 6-39, Tiron Ferris 7-36, Tyler Rudolph 1-6. WCA — Josiah Rivers 33-302, Kyren Petteway 22-127, Jadan Battle 3-28.
Passing: SH — Trey Dawson 27-39-446-2. WCA — Kyren Petteway 3-9-38-1.
Receiving: SH — Tyler Rudolph 12-219, Courie Stevenson 10-150, Tyler Gendron 1-35, Joel Guzman 2-28, Jovanni Celli 1-13, Tiron Ferris 1-1. WCA — Jadan Battle 3-38. Records: SH 3-3; WCA 3-3.
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That's all for now. Thanks for reading. More Sunday and Tuesday.
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