Howdy,

Colton Engel did not swerve to avoid the collision.

Engel, a Stafford/East Windsor/Somers senior, was nearly finished running for a 13-yard gain early in the third quarter of Tuesday’s CIAC Class S quarterfinal when a Cromwell/Portland defender closed in on him.

Engel lowered his shoulder and drove into him. Hard.

“I got that head-to-head contact (penalty) there,” Engel said. “I was a little frustrated, but it was a good call.

“I just love running people over. I love running the ball hard.”

The Bulldogs used a no-frills approach in their resounding 41-6 win over the Panthers.

S/EW/S ran 44 times for 291 yards and six touchdowns. It threw just eight times when it was necessary, or when it wanted to take a shot downfield. It also forced five turnovers.

“That’s Stafford football,” Engel said. “That’s just the brand of football we’ve been playing since we were eight, nine years old. Run it down their throat, punch it in (the end zone), and that’s what we were able to do tonight.”

The third-seeded Bulldogs (11-0) will host seventh-seeded Haddam-Killingworth in Sunday’s semifinals at 12:30 p.m.

H-K (10-1) overwhelmed second-seeded Bullard-Havens in its quarterfinal, 52-0.

Engel ran 30 times for 164 yards and three touchdowns and completed 3-of-7 passes for 41 yards for S/EW/S.

Julien Rivas added 17 carries for 105 yards and scored, and Jeff Kology (2 yards) and Cody Gebo (6 yards) also ran for touchdowns.

The Bulldogs also used that no-frills on defense against the Panthers (9-2), who used one of the state’s most successful passing attacks to average 33.8 points during the regular season.

Bryce Karstetter averaged 258.4 yards with 28 touchdowns and five interceptions during the regular season for Cromwell/Portland.

Karstetter completed 18-of-32 passes for 214 yards with a TD and three interceptions against the Bulldogs.

“One of the big things we saw going in (on film) was this kid could scramble,” Engel said of Karstetter. “I thought the line did a very good job of stopping him from scrambling tonight.”

Panthers receiver Nick Wright had 57 catches for 1,425 yards and 17 touchdowns during the regular season. That yardage ranks seventh all-time in state history, according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book. His touchdowns tied him for 19th.

Wright had eight catches for 79 yards for the Panthers and Kevin Hinkle had eight catches for 104 yards. Matthew Pepe caught the team’s lone touchdowns (18 yards).

“To let up six points to that team,” S/EW/S head coach Brian Mazzone said, “I watched film (of them) over-and-over-and-over again. They’d throw the ball 60 yards, 60 yards, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.

“I talked to my buddy at Rockville (head coach Erick Knickerbocker), and I said, ‘how do you defend them?’”

Rockville opened the season with a 35-21 loss to the Panthers.

“(Knickerbocker) said, ‘just be simple’, and I said, ‘you’re right. Don’t be complex. Just be simple.

“We used the same game plan when we played SMSA (a 35-6 win on Oct. 5), and we thought it worked really well.”

Caleb White, Kology and Rivas each had an interception for the Bulldogs. They also recovered two fumbles, the first of which altered the game.

The Panthers had a first-and-goal at the S/EW/S 7-yard line midway through the second quarter trailing 7-0.

Karstetter ran a keeper and fumbled the ball short of the end zone.

The Bulldogs’ Anthony Pizzimenti recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

S/EW/S proceeded to drive 80 yards in 12 plays with Engel’s 1-yard run giving them a 14-0 lead with one minute, 18 seconds left in the half.

“That was a game-changer,” Engel said. “They’re running screen, screen, screen, getting a chunk (of yardage) getting a chunk, getting a chunk. We recovered that fumble, and I’m like, ‘whew, that’s a relief,’ because I was expecting 7-7 there.

“Then to come back with that (scoring drive), it was a mentality change for sure.”

Even botched field goals went right for the Bulldogs. They led 21-0 in the third quarter when Will Spellman blocked a Cromwell/Portland punt to give them ball at the latter’s 19.

The Bulldogs only gained two yards on three plays and attempted a 34-yard field goal. The snap was off, and Kology, the holder, alertly scooped up the ball, scrambled away from pressure, and threw a 14-yard pass to Spellman, who was racing down the middle of the field.

Rivas ran for a 3-yard touchdown on the next play to make it 27-0.

“Kology came off the field and grabbed me and said, ‘That’s why you make us practice that play all the time,’” Mazzone said. “I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ That’s what happens (when you practice it). I think it was Tom Coughlin who said you create your own luck.”

• • • •

S/EW/S’ win sets up a semifinal with H-K that’s straight out of the dreams of everyone here at Polecat Worldwide.

The Cougars, like the Bulldogs, are committed to the Manly Discipline of the Running Arts and use GOD’S OFFENSE (double wing). They ran 50 times for 352 yards and seven touchdowns in their win over Bullard-Havens.

Cromwell/Portland beat the Cougars during the regular season, 47-19 (Sept. 29), in a Pequot Football Conference Sassacus Division game.

S/EW/S plays in the Uncas half of the Pequot, so Tuesday night’s game with the Panthers was also an unsanctioned league title game of sorts.

• • • •

Goodbye, Stephen Hillenburg. Thanks for “SpongeBob SquarePants” and all the laughs and goofy joy it brought to our life.

And go to hell, ALS.

• • • •

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. More soon.

Adios....