By Tim Parry
New Canaan has staked its claim to the No. 1 spot in the state polls with a convincing 26-7 win over arch-rival Darien in the CIAC Class MM championship game.
New Canaan finished its season a perfect 13-0. Darien was 11-2, with its only two loses coming to New Canaan.
Getting there was half the problem for New Canaan… literally. One of the buses carrying Rams players to Trumbull broke down on Interstate 95 in Westport, and the malfunction meant the team’s equipment could not be retrieved from the cargo bay. The fire department needed to use the jaws of life to pry the cargo door open.
By the time the equipment arrived in Trumbull – in another bus with a state police escort – and both teams were able to warm up, it was 4 p.m. The game was scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
Nat Quinn, who threw for two touchdowns, ran for a third and had an electrifying 40-yard run in the third quarter, was named MVP.
Kurt Ondash had a pair of interceptions for New Canaan and a 26-yard field goal. Wynne Holden had a safety to open the scoring for New Canaan, then had a fourth quarter trifecta – a sack, strip and funmle recovery on one play.
Darien played without Nikke Dysenchuk, who was injured Tuesday in the semifinal game against Hillhouse. Mike Gencarelli did a fantastic job filling in as Darien’s featured back.
MORE ON THIS GAME TOMORROW AND DURING THE WEEK: I’m on an 8 a.m. flight for work Sunday and need to get some sleep…
Popularity: 26% [?]
December 7th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Can i please ask, ARE THERE ANY MORE DOUBTERS?! The Rams prove once again that they are the best in the state and when in preseason not even being ranked in the top seven in the FCIAC, have they proved themselves? Or, will they still get no credit. these kids got no credit when they beat Darien in the Turkey bowl. even though he is a great coach, but Trifone, the Darien coach claimed that they lost that game because of lack of time. Two weeks isn’t enough? he didn’t give an ounce of credit to this terrific football team and they have done more than enough to claim that number one spot.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
great game, great team. Anybody know if its on tv?
December 7th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Yes, we can and should give the NC kids credit and they deserve it for playing a great game, but to say that NC is undoubtedly the best team in Class MM is going a little too far. Darien did not give NC as good of of a game as it should’ve been. As the article mentions, Darien played without Nikki Dysenchuk, a huge part of their offense and defense. With Dysenchuk out of the lineup, Wheelock was forced to play both ways, something he has done little of (if at all)this season. Also, Andrew Patten (Guard,OL), a guy who’s not given enough credit, didn’t play at all either due to consecutive concussions over the course of the season. With Dysenchuk and Patten playing and Wheelock sticking to one side of the ball (not to say he didn’t do a good job on D yesterday), it’s a whole new game.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
ya, but what happened the first time when they did play? o, that’s right
December 8th, 2008 at 12:09 am
yes, darien is a completely different football team with both those players, but remember the first time they played sciarretta was out the first half…. one of if not the best defensive player for the rams. it was also a 28-14 game, darien scored on literally the last play of the game when new canaan had their second defense in…. and new canaan only showed up for a quarter and a half.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:40 am
i just hope that new canaan has put a good enough beating on darien over the past three years for them to realize who is the dominant contender.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:41 am
p.s. THREEPEAT
December 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
As we all reflect on Saturday’s game, let’s begin by remembering we all were treated to some thing very special over the last ten days. We got the chance to see two very good teams play in a long standing rivalry twice, and both times for a championship. I thought the MM Finals game was going to be much closer but I was wrong. Certainly Darien had some issues with player availability and credit their defense for a heroic effort in Q1. The blitzing they did was some thing new and it confused NC for a while and they successfully limited Ondash’s impact on offense but the safety early Q2 was the turning point. From there NC took control of the game and this time did not go conservative in Q3. The intensity and focus was there, you could see it and feel it. No excuses necessary, the better team won. And please, lets stay away from would have, could have, should have and who played both ways etc. Simply put, Darien got beat by a better team. And there is nothing to be ashamed of in that. The Wave went from sub 500 to 11-2 in 12 months. That’s a huge turn around and no doubt bodes well for the future. But, this was NC’s year (and their decade!) in football. All fans should pause and give them the credit they are due for their outstanding 2008 accomplishment. It may be a long time before we see this kind of performance again from an FCIAC team. Congratulations to Lou Marinelli, his staff and, most importantly, his NC Ram ball players. You are the toast of the town, the county and the state!
December 8th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
NC won fair and square and i agree with the would have could have.
What’s up with NC no. 12 waving his hands not once, not twice but three times in front of the Darien bench and fans after NC made good plays? That was pretty disgusting. Did Marinelli see this? Not a good follow up to the Wilton game incident.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
might have had something to do with the verbal abuse the kid was taking from the darien crowd. I heard multiple “brokeback ondash” chants while standing off to the side of the away stands, along with a few signs i saw saying things about both ondash and quinn. Im not justifying this type of behavior, but as long as it didnt escalate into anything worse like we saw at last years darien vs nc hockey game i dont really have a problem with it. What took place at that game last winter was “disgusting”, im not sure waving you hands at some fans that were heckling you falls in the same catigory.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Newyork02
If you consider that disgusting, what would you call the Darien FATHERS that were booing the New Canaan players after they went in the locker room after warm-ups. It is truly disgusting for a grown man to boo at a high school athlete in such a way.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
classless
December 8th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
just a quick world to football001 and jsleezy:
Please don’t start with the back and forth about booing from the stands: if you were at the Thanksgiving game you would have seen that the Darien players had to exit and enter their lockerroom through openings in the NC stands at Boyle, and the abuse from NC students and adults was terrible, not to mention their tiresome “Alex Kelly” chant during the national anthem.
Hey, NC won twice and had a great season. Darien for various reasons played poorly in what I thought were two totally non-representative performances, but they lost. Period. As for Ondash’s behavior? He’s a tremendous athlete. He’s also a teenager, so any impression of his behavior during and in the last moments of the game has to take that into account. But anyone who observed it couldn’t help but draw unfortunate conclusions about his character.
December 8th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
What I find disheartening about all of this back-and-forth regarding behavior is that both towns are good towns with good people. They are also very similar in many respects (I have worked in both towns). People (adult and younger) should take the lead shown by Coaches Marinelli and Trifone, who have great respect for each other.
New Canaan/Darien is a classic and great rivalry, but I think that in this age of diminishing (disappearing) civility, the citizens of towns like ours that should be leading the way should in fact lead and set a better example. We had two wonderful teams play in two hard-fought games – there isn’t a need for all of the posturing, gloating and accusations that appear in these posts.
December 8th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Darien had a tremendous year this year, more than doubling their win total from a year before.
But does anyone think Darien can continue this run, and resume their spot as one of the FCIAC’s elite next year, as they were during the 90’s?
Looking at Darien, they do not have many returning starters, which has plagued Darien in the past. They are not a Greenwich or Staples, where they can simply reload. Does anyone see another rebuilding year for Darien next year?
December 8th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
good for ondash for showing some emotion after making some big plays. the darien crowd was giving both him and quinn a hard time, with some extremely nasty chants and some signs, not only during the game, but during warm-ups and during the time that the NC players were waiting for their pads. Also how can you say a kid has character issues for pointing to the opposing teams student section, after getting a hard time all game, it must feel nice to get some payback. Congrats to the Rams who proved again that they are the better team than darien and also great job shutting down kosnic after he guaranteed a victory with a line something like we r the giants they r the pats and like the giants we r going to win.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I think its pretty safe to say that both new canaan and darien had multiple cheers/chants whatever that you could consider nasty it was an exchange of feelings between to teams locked in a heated rivalry…the thing that really got to me as a spectator from the new canaan sideline was that with less than a minute left i saw kurt ondash talking trash on the darien side of the football! im sorry but if the game is already in the bag than i dont see any need to stoop to any lower level
December 8th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
When did Kosnick say anything like that?
December 8th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
stiffy, you’re really reaching now on the comment about Kosnik “guaranteeing” a win. His quote in the paper was basically that he was hoping it would turn out like the Giants-Pats of last year, with the Giants gaining redemption at the end as he hoped Darien would after Thanksgiving. But it didn’t happen for Darien, yet you continue to bleat on about payback and whatnot. Give it a rest. Your team won. Be happy.
And OLB makes exactly the observation that irked so many old school football fans on both sides of the field about Ondash’s end-of-the-game antics, barking at the Darien huddle as the last seconds ticked away. Nothing he might have said could make the Blue Wave players feel worse than they already did, but he was damn sure going to try. Very low behavior, in my view.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:18 am
stooping low is trying to score in the turkey bowl with a minute left in the game with a third string defense in.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:25 am
No one can reasonably control chants from student sections. Coaches CAN control the behavior of players on the field and the New Canaan coaches CHOOSE not to do so which, as all saw, was wrong. They are closer to being young men than teenagers. Why encourage reprehensible behavior? What is the point?
December 9th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Everyone, this is going on too long and getting a bit ridiculous. Why dont you scroll up from here and read oldcoach’s comment again. It is time to recognize Saturday’s game and this past season for what it was and to move on. Both teams had a wonderful season, no doubt an improvement for both from the 08 year. They both played hard and with emotion in both the Turkey bowl as well as the MM Final. I had the privelege to have been on both sidelines for both games and I can honestly say that emotions were running high both on and off the field for BOTH teams. That’s what happens in a long standing rivalry. I’m sure BOTH sides can look back in retrospect and say that they each made a few unfortunate comments and actions. However, in the broader picture, I believe both coaches and both teams conducted themselves with good sportsmanship. The heat of the battle always causes some emotions to fly but we all have so much to be proud of and we should feel very grateful that these two programs exist for the young men of Darien and New Canaan.
December 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I won’t respond to the antics of both teams/fans b/c the accusations can go on forever
Justafan, in response to Darien playing two subpar games againt NC…i think NC coaching has to be credited on that one…they have had Coach T’s number for years
I can’t think of more than two or three times that NC has lost to a Trifone coached team
December 9th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Not only has New Canaan has Trifone’s team, NC has had Darien’s number for the past decade. Darien hasn’t won against New Canaan since 2001, with a lone tie in 2003. Thats a record of 1-7-1 in their past 9 meetings. And before that, NC won in 2000.
December 27th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
NewYork02
I disagree, does anyone remember in the class m state championship for lacrosse this year when the new canaan student section stood up and started chanting, ‘everyone knows darien blows”. This prompted NC coach alex witten to runover to them and scream at them to shut up telling them it is their fault that this game is not being played at night.