Ruden Sports News

The play is called Thursday — Lou Marinelli doesn’t know why — and it almost never works in practice.

But on the third play of the second half of today’s annual Turkey Bowl with Darien, the New Canaan football team decided to roll the dice and break the game with open. A double pass behind the line of scrimmage, with four receivers flanked right, ended up in the hands of backup quarterback Quinn Jens, who threw a strike down the left side to a wide open Maddox Hoffman, the QB who started the play.

The 35-yard completion just 51 seconds into the third quarter gave the Rams a 25-0 lead. They rolled from there to a 39-7 decision, their eighth straight holiday win and, along with postseason play, 10th in the last 11 meetings, including the last two Class L finals.

There will be a third consecutive playoff meeting — back at Dunning Field on Tuesday night. Darien (6-4) managed to squeak back into the playoffs as the eighth seed due to bonus points. The Rams (10-0), who will be going for their fourth straight title, are the No. 1 seed.

Marinelli, displeased at the break because of a slow start, a turnover on the Darien 1-yard line and general sloppy play, was happier afterward.

“We got better, but if we play that way again, you know, giving stuff away, I mean that’s crazy,” Marinelli said. “But it’s a win and we’re happy, especially the Turkey Bowl, that’s a big game for both teams, and to come out and win like that is great.”

For all their success, this is the first time the Rams have made it through the regular season unbeaten since 2010.

“For this group to do it, it’s special,” Marinelli said.

The game was another showcase for the New Canaan defense, which held another opponent under 200 yards. Nearly half came on a long late drive that resulted in Rowan LeVine’s 7-yard touchdown run with 3:22 left.

It was also another leap for Hoffman, who has come a long way since taking over as quarterback at the start of the season. He threw for three scores and continued to show more poise in the pocket and touch with his passes.

“I think I’ve gained more confidence and I think that’s help from our receivers, our linemen and also the coaching staff,” Hoffman said.

The Rams have been plagued by injuries and lost their leading rusher, Henry Stein, early in the game to an ankle injury. Each season New Canaan’s depth ends up being a positive focal point, and that was the case today as Bennett Heagle caught a pair of touchdown passes, doubling his season total.

“If people haven’t heard of him they should now,” Hoffman said. “He’s a dual sport athlete. Great player in baseball and football. Even when we play pickup basketball, he’s one of the best athletes in the school. So it was no surprise to me to see him make some plays.”

New Canaan’s leading receiver, Andrew Esposito, who missed two games with a labrum injury before returning for the previous contest, against Trumbull, took in a beautiful 31-yard pass from Hoffman to set up his own 1-yard scoring run.

“We had a great week of practice so we were confident coming into this one,” Hoffman said.

As for his scoring catch, a play that looked much more in sync than when the Giants used almost the exact one to score against Detroit last Sunday, Hoffman added, “It hasn’t worked as well as it did and I think it worked pretty well, so I’m pretty happy. When I just caught it and saw all the linemen in front of me and green grass, it was pretty exciting.”

Darien was competitive in a first quarter where the major seperation was provided by Ryan Brooks, who outran the pursuit and turned a short pass into a 66-yard score and 8-0 lead. Brooks is another of the New Canaan two-way players dominating on both sides.

The Blue Wave could not keep the game close. It is now 1-4 against other state playoff qualifiers.

“We thought we left a lot out there, especially in the first half,” Darien coach Andy Grant said. “In the first half there was a lot of open stuff. A lot of plays defensively that we had second and third and long and we just didn’t convert. It’s frustrating. It was five or six plays that we’d love to have back. And I think the whole game kind of changes on those. Obviously they’re a good team and they’re hard to control when the game starts to open up. Now it’s a quick turnaround to play them again.”

Marinelli smiled when asked about the rematch with Darien.

“I don’t care who we play as long as we’re playing,” he said.