Norwich —  It was there, theoretically, as one of those "any given Friday" moments.

Darien, the No. 2 high school football team in The Day's state coaches poll, on the road for 95 miles (in coach buses) to parts unknown, otherwise known as this corner of the world.

The Blue Wave were a week removed from a vengeance-is-ours victory over Newtown, the program that swiped Darien's potential eighth state championship on the last play in 2019 finals. And now here was the opponent, Norwich Free Academy, which struggled to defeat — gulp — Woodstock Academy two weeks ago.

If ever there was a moment to catch high school football royalty in Connecticut snoozing ...

And then the game started.

Darien quarterback Miles Drake's night was over with 9:05 left in the first half. He had already thrown for 183 yards and three scores in Darien's eventual 49-7 win.

"We weren't flat," Darien coach Mike Forget said, uttering an understatement as wide as the final margin. "We really just try to take things one game at a time. It helps when you have great seniors."

Darien's Tighe Cummiskey ran for 147 yards — all in the first half — and caught one of Drake's three touchdown passes. Drake also threw a 15-yard score to Nick Hoffman and a 63-yarder to Jaylen Lesperance.

"One of the things we talked about was how long it would take to get here," Forget said, adding that the trip took almost three hours. "We thought they might be tired getting off the bus. So, we wanted to treat it as a business trip."

NFA's lone score came late in the game when Sayvion Jones returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown.

NFA coach Jason Bakoulis did not address his team on the field after the game, preferring to do so in the locker room. Bakoulis was the lone voice heard in there for about 10 minutes.

"I've got to do a better job learning how to motivate them and holding them to details," Bakoulis said. "We have a young team. We had the mindset all week that we were playing this game to win. I've got to do a better job. Darien is well disciplined. They play hard and they're well coached."

m.dimauro@theday.com

NFA Darien photo gallery

For more photos from the NFA Darien high school football game click here.