NEW LONDON – The Connecticut Heritage Maritime Festival is playing in this waterfront town this weekend. The “Eagle,” the Coast Guard’s iconic three-masted ship, will be a big draw.
On Thursday night, the New London football team got the party rolling a day early, running the “Jolly Jack” up the S.S. Cochran and defeating Joel Barlow 56-17 in a Connecticut High School Football Alliance game at Pat Cannamela Field that marked coach Jack Cochran’s return to the New London sidelines after a 17-year absence.
Cochran and his Whalers came in with a roar – literally. They were led down to the field by a motorcycle escort.
From there, they simply kept revving.
Junior Zhi’Mir Maddox-Moore took the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and later caught three touchdown passes from junior quarterback JoJo Rivera-Perry – all big-hitters for 30, 66 and 59 yards – as the home team built a 36-17 lead by halftime.
The Whalers were up 22-0 all of 4½ minutes into the game, as Rivera-Perry also connected with Keandre Dixon from 12 yards out.
Joel Barlow hung tough, getting a 60-yard run from William Miller on a nifty downfield option toss from quarterback Keeler Pheeney, a 22-yard fumble return from Matthew Modafferi and a 26-yard field goal from Joey Comis.
Comis and Mathieu Grall also picked off passes to stymie New London forays into the red zone.
The Falcons, though, just couldn’t keep that explosive green-and-white offense in check. No sooner had Miller gotten Barlow on the board midway through the first quarter than Maddox-Moore and Rivera-Perry connected from 66 yards.
In the second half, the night’s humidity had players on both teams cramping badly. Additional injuries to a Barlow team suiting up just 35 players, senior through freshmen, had head coach T.J. Cavaliere request the game be put on running time in the fourth quarter.
Cochran went into Thursday’s game with a career record of 163-31-2, according to the Connecticut High School Football Record Book. He holds an .835 winning percentage that is fifth-best in state history. He’s 8-6 in state finals. He took the Whalers to three in each of his three previous seasons coaching New London, 2005, 2007 and 2008, winning it all in 2008.
This story will be updated.
Player of the game
Zhi’Mir Maddox-Moore: The junior wide receiver returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, then caught three touchdown passes, all before halftime.
Quotables
“It’s a long time. It’s fun and this is what I enjoy. It’s my passion, so I had some fun tonight.” – New London coach Jack Cochran.
New London 56, Joel Barlow 17
JOEL BARLOW 14 3 0 0 – 17
NEW LONDON 29 7 14 6 – 56
NL-Zhi’Mir Maddox-Moore 92 kickoff return (Djeff Clerger kick)
NL-Maddox-Moore 30 pass from JoJo Rivera-Perry (Keandre Dixon pass from Thiago Rosa)
NL-Dixon 12 pass from Rivera-Perry (Clerger kick)
JB-William Miller 60 run (kick failed)
NL-Maddox-Moore 66 pass from Rivera-Perry (Clerger kick)
JB-Matthew Modafferi 22 fumble return (Keeler Pheeney run)
JB-Joey Comis 26 FG
NL-Maddox-Moore 59 pass from Rivera-Perry (Clerger kick)
NL-DaMone Bolling 51 run (Clerger kick)
NL-Dixon 11 run (Clerger kick)
NL-Jayden McKinnon 4 run (kick failed)
Records: Joel Barlow:0-1; New London: 1-0.
This article originally published at Jack Cochran’s New London return starts with a rout of Joel Barlow.
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