Ruden Sports News

Justin Carroll knows there is a special sense of pride in putting on the Greenwich football uniform.

That’s why, after tonight’s 37-0 shutout of undermanned Ridgefield, Carroll called a defensive-players-only meeting on the field at Tiger Hollow.

Sure, the shutout win was nice, but Carroll knew his defense could have played even better and he let his teammates know it.

“It means everything,” Carroll said of what it means to wear the Greenwich colors every weekend. “There’s a standard I was talking about before. It’s a standard, if you uphold it, it would be great. When you wear this jersey, nothing short of great is acceptable. So yeah, that’s all I got.”

While Carroll didn’t want to talk much more about his postgame meeting, his on-the-field talking said plenty.

The senior running back had nine carries for 81 yards and two touchdowns in less than three quarters of play on offense.

From his linebacker’s spot he had plenty of tackles and a tipped pass that led to an interception, as well.

“He’s everywhere. He’s a really special player,” Greenwich coach Anthony Morello said. “He’s got to be approaching, if not surpassing, 300 tackles. He’s a difference maker in every aspect, including special teams. He doesn’t waver regardless of score, opponent, or situation. And he’s also a great kid, great student and committed to Carnegie Mellon. So they’re getting a really great one in Justin.”

Entering the game, the most important thing for the Cardinals was to get back on the winning track after last week’s home loss to New Canaan.

The Cardinals wasted little time in doing so, scoring on their first two possessions to take a 15-0 lead.

It was Carroll striking first, capping off a three-play 46-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. He later added the two-point conversion, giving Greenwich a 8-0 lead.

On Greenwich’s second drive it marched 79 yards on six plays, with quarterback Phil Tarantino scoring on an 8-yard run.

Greenwich opened the third quarter with another score. Carroll carried the ball three times for 30 yards before Tarantino (9 for 12, 109 yards, two rushing TDs) carried it the final 18 yards of the drive for another score. Tarantino added another two-point conversion, pushing the Cardinals’ advantage to 23-0.

The Cardinals’ defense held the Tigers to a three-and-out before the offense put up another score.

Once again it was Carroll, this time scoring on a 12-yard run to make it 30-0.

Josh Agreda closed out the scoring for Greenwich on a 14-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

“It was a long week,” Morrello said of his team coming off the loss to New Canaan. “You got to wait a week in football to get back into the win column, but everyone was hungry to get back playing Greenwich football and doing our thing. So I was really encouraged by our senior leadership tonight. And we had some contributions from guys that we haven’t had a ton of contributions from this season.”

As good as Greenwich was tonight, though, the Cardinals did beat a Ridgefield team that was severely undermanned, with six two-way starters out with injuries.

That included two of the FCIAC’s top individual playmakers: receiver Chris Colsley and slot back Brodie Block, who set a school record for rushing yards in a game earlier this year.

“It’s a series of bad luck, the likes of which I’ve rarely seen,” said Ridgefield coach Jamie Reed. “Couple of hand injuries, concussions, things like that. We’re not going to rush anybody back, but it all came at a bad time and this month is an absolute gauntlet of a schedule.”

Against the Cardinals, the Tigers tried to manage the clock as much as they could.

An eight-play drive to open the game nearly took eight minutes off the clock. A 12-play drive on Ridgefield’s second possession took the Tigers deep into the second quarter.

Greenwich, however, simply responded almost every time it touched the ball, while its defense was able to pitch its fourth shutout of the season.

“It was pretty important to get this win,” Carroll said. “It was a heartbreaking loss last week, but I don’t want to look back on that. I just really want to look forward to the future, and the playoffs and the next few games.”