Ruden Sports News

Fairfield Ludlowe’s Mitch Ross bucks convention more than any coach in recent memory, but one move midway through the fourth quarter of tonight’s pivotal home contest against Wilton had even his loyal student fanbase questioning his wisdom.

It came midway through the fourth quarter, with the Falcons, in need of a win to position themselves for the first postseason berth in school history and leading, 21-14, facing a fourth and six situation from their own 19. Ross disdains punting for a variety of reasons, both following analytics and, sometimes, ignoring them.

When Ross left his offense out on the field, a chant broke out from The Nest, the Ludlowe student fan base: “Punt the ball, punt the ball.”

Ross didn’t hear their pleas and would have ignored them anyway, but when Grant Stupak hit Ryan Menozzi in stride for a 36-yard gain, the chant turned to an affirming shout of the coach’s first and last name.

Ludlowe didn’t score on the drive, but the field position proved pivotal as the Warriors got the ball back on their own 28 with 1:56 left and could not mount a tying drive.

The Falcons improved to 6-2 with their 21-14 victory and need to only win one of their final two games to earn the right to play a game in December for the first time. They are currently ranked sixth in Class L and their remaining opponents, Norwalk and Fairfield Warde, have a combined five wins.

After the conclusion of Ludlowe’s first win over Wilton since at least 2000, the fans burst onto the field to celebrate with players like Stupak, who had another strong game on a night his team surprisingly turned to the run, Justin Toothaker, a two-way player star the past two seasons, Liam Bond, who was part of the reason the ground game flourished, Ryan Tompkins, who scored a pair of touchdowns, and Lleyton DeThomas, who made the final and perhaps biggest defensive play of the night.

In his postgame meeting with the team, Ross said it was the biggest win in school history.

“We’re not there yet, we still have two games to finish our business,” Ross said as he proudly watched his team enjoy the accomplishment. “Wilton’s obviously a very, very good team and we made it a little tough on ourselves, especially in the second half. We knew they were going to come out and they weren’t going to make it easy on us and they were going to adjust, and that’s what they did. We did shoot ourselves a few times with a few key penalties, a few not so smart plays, which is all really part of the process. You do have to learn how to win.”

Known as an offensive team that scores quickly, often and mostly through the air, the Falcons took the opening kickoff and, in what might have been the biggest stunner of the evening, went on a 12-play, 76-yard drive that consumed 6:47. Just one call, a third down completion from Stupak to Tompkins, two plays before Tompkins scored from two yards, was a pass.

“(Stupak) had a very, very good game,” Ross said. “He made some great throws even though we had a strategy to run the ball, which I think was the biggest surprise. Look, you have to be more balanced when teams know. They’re going to empty the box and put everybody in coverage.”

In a flurry of touchdowns over the course of 69 seconds, Tompkins made it 14-0 with a 23-yard run 5:25 before halftime. The Warriors recovered an onside kick that was a mis-hit squib on their own 49, and quarterback Joey Hagerty completed two passes, the second a wheel route that left Charlie Calabrese uncovered for a 35-yard score.

The Warriors got no ride of momentum: on the next play Stupak found Ryan Menozzi ahead of a defender in what became a 74-yard touchdown and 21-7 lead.

Ludlowe did not score again, with Wilton thriving on some second-half adjustments and playing like a team that is 3-5 in part become of strength of schedule and injuries. Half of their games will likely end up being against state playoff qualifiers.

Hagerty completed a 10-yard pass to Jake Padilla with 27 seconds left in the third quarter to get the Warriors within 21-14.

And when Charles Roy made the right read and intercepted Stupak with 1:56 left, Wilton was 72 yards away from tying the game. It got just a little bit more than halfway there. On a fourth-down play from Ludlowe’s 33, Wilton coach EJ DiNunzio called for an option pass. Calabrese took a toss from Hagerty and Liam McKiernan was streaking across the field, waving his arms, with no defender within 10 yards. But Calabrese had no time to find him as DeThomas stormed in and made the tackle.

“We played well but we still have to learn how to get over the hump on these games,” DiNunzio said. “Ludlowe played a really good game, got two scores early on us. We fought back, played a much better second half. So they made the plays and unfortunately we just didn’t make enough of them.”

The Warriors advanced to the Class MM final a year ago. Now, in 25 days, the Falcons will likely get their chance — first chance — to see how far they can advance in a state tournament.

“To do this for the first time in Ludlowe history is just a great feeling,” Stupak said.