SOUTHINGTON – Nick Andrews set the tone. The Southington football team then finished the first half with a flurry to blow out Glastonbury and remain undefeated.
Andrews capped off the No. 5 Blue Knights’ first three possessions with touchdown runs as Southington started quick and never looked back in a 49-14 CCC Tier 1 rout.
Southington (6-0) scored 21 points in the first quarter and then 21 in the final 1:53 of the first half to lead 42-7 by halftime.
With the game still in doubt at 21-7 midway through the second quarter after Glastonbury quarterback Matt Cartwright’s 4-yard touchdown run, his counterpart Jacoby Roman proceeded to throw for two scores and run for a third to put Southington in full command by halftime.
Roman’s second scoring toss was a thing of beauty to fellow junior Ben Beaulieu from 29 yards out. Scrambling to his right, Roman lofted a pass down the sideline to Beaulieu between Glastonbury defenders.
A twisting Beaulieu hauled in the pass and scored with 5.9 seconds remaining in the half.
“Every week, it’s set the tone, set the tone, set the tone,” said Andrews, who ran for 88 yards on 11 carries. The senior also returned two kicks to eclipse 100 all-purpose yards.
“That’s always told to me. It’s told to Jacoby to Ben to Walker (Mierzejewski), the whole offense. That’s our mentality on offense,” Andrews added. “We have to set the tone early and finish. We had 42 points in the first half, 21 in the first quarter.”
With most of the state’s attention down south in Greenwich for a clash of GametimeCT’s No. 1 and 2 teams (a game won by No. 1 New Canaan 23-19), Southington’s latest win left it as the only unbeaten among Class LL teams.
The Blue Knights, who haven’t lost since last year’s Class LL final against Greenwich, aren’t focused on anything but the next team on their schedule. And so far, that mindset has worked.
“Yeah, like Nick said, it’s about going 1-0 each week,” said Roman. “(But) this team is really special. We have a lot of talent. I’m blessed and grateful to be part of this team.”
Roman, who passed for 240 yards on 14 of 17 attempts and has yet to throw an interception this season, hit tight end Leif Renehan for a 3-yard scoring toss with 1:53 left in the first half.
Then, after Glastonbury fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Roman ran for an 8-yard TD 43 seconds later.
Glastonbury then turned the ball over on downs at its own 40 with 25 seconds remaining in the half.
Two plays later, Southington was back in the end zone courtesy of Beaulieu’s TD catch.
Beaulieu also went over 100 total yards, catching four passes for 96 yards and running for 15 yards on his only carry.
Walker Mierzejewski caught five Roman passes for 84 yards.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Southington head coach Rob Levesque said. “And bottom line, the kids executed tonight.”
It took Southington 58 seconds to score after Glastonbury went three-and-out.
Andrews scored from 2 yards out after a 40-yard hookup between Roman and Mierzejewski set the Blue Knights up inside the Guardians’ 10-yard line.
Southington then went 61 yards on six plays to a 5-yard TD run by Andrews with 4:39 left in the first quarter.
It was then 21-0 Southington with 1:08 to play in the quarter after Andrews scampered 26 yards into the end zone.
The running clock didn’t stop in the second half until Glastonbury scored with 3:52 to play on a second TD run by Cartwright.
The final TD was scored by Matt Spatler from 7 yards out with 31 seconds remaining in the game.
Player of the Game
Nick Andrews, Southington: The senior running back scored on runs of 2, 5 and 26 yards to cap Southington’s first three possessions and stake the Blue Knights to a 21-0 lead after one quarter. All told, Andrews ran 88 yards on 11 carries and returned two kicks to surpass 100 all-purpose yards.
Quotable
“We try to go 1-0 every week, try to shrink the game for the kids. Give them clear goals, clear objectives to put them in position to be successful based on their skill sets.”
– Southington head coach Rob Levesque.
Southington 49, Glastonbury 14
GLASTONBURY 0 7 0 7-14
SOUTHINGTON 21 21 0 7-49
S-Andrews 5 run (Carrier kick)
S-Andrews 26 run (Carrier kick)
G-Matt Cartwright 4 run (Tommy Pringle kick)
S-Leif Renehan 3 pass from Jacoby Roman (Carrier kick)
S-Roman 8 run (Carrier kick)
S-Ben Beaulieu 29 pass from Roman (Carrier kick)
G-Cartwright run (Pringle kick)
S-Matt Spatler 7 run (Carrier kick)
Records: Glastonbury 1-5, Southington 6-0.
This article originally published at No. 5 Southington football stays unbeaten as Nick Andrews runs for 3 first-quarter TDs.
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