New Britain takes down undefeated No. 6 Southington with help from a third-quarter blocked PAT
· Yahoo Sports
SOUTHINGTON - The New Britain high school football mantra "slay the kings" had fallen out of fashion - or at least out of the headlines - after the Golden Hurricanes lost to reigning state champs Greenwich and New Canaan earlier this season.
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It's time to dust that baby off. On Thursday night, New Britain took down Southington, the last unbeaten team in Class LL and the No. 6-ranked squad in the GametimeCT poll, 28-27 in a CCC Tier 1 showdown at Fontana Field.
This one featured big plays by the game's biggest names, yet was ultimately decided by a New Britain scout player, Javier Zenquis, who fought his way onto special teams with such dogged work in practice it often angered his teammates.
2150180The Blue Knights can relate. Zenquis came off the edge to swat down the PAT attempt after Ben Beaulieu's second touchdown of the third quarter had closed the gap to 28-27.
At the time, it didn't seem terribly monumental. There was still 4:50 to play in the third quarter. Both teams had already put up four touchdowns apiece and there was little reason to think there wouldn't be more.
But there wasn't. Both squads buckled down with fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter, and that single point loomed larger and larger until Southington's last gasp, a fourth-and-6 pass at midfield with two minutes to play, fell incomplete.
Southington, beaten by New Britain for a third straight year, fell to 7-1. New Britain improved to 6-2 and remained in the top four of Class LL with Greenwich and Staples, as well as Southington.
"Undefeated team, phenomenal program: They're the cream of the crop here in the CCC and they were undefeated," said New Britain coach Isaiah Boddie. "We looked at it as a conference championship game."
"It was a ginormous win for us," said NB defensive end Zion Calvin. "I'm definitely grateful that we won this one."
The Golden Hurricanes never trailed Thursday. Nor could they shake the home team. Three times New Britain built leads. Three times the Blue Knights answered.
New Britain quarterback Billy Seymour's 7-yard TD run, set up by a Southington fumble on the game's opening possession, was promptly answered by a 10-yard Jacoby Roman touchdown pass to Nick Andrews.
Then came the big hits. New Britain running back Jaden Benitez broke off a 60-yard TD run down the right sideline late in the first quarter. On the first play of the second, Southington receiver Leif Renehan took a short pass from Roman and turned it into an 87-yard breakaway.
The big swing came in the final minute of the half. New Britain had taken a 21-14 lead on a 1-yard TD plunge by Benitez, but the Blue Knights had driven to the New Britain 14 and seemed poised for yet another game-tying TD.
Instead, NB linebacker Julius Mendez picked off a Roman pass in the end zone.
And though they were getting the ball to start the second half, the 'Canes weren't content to merely run out the clock. Seymour had taken long stabs downfield throughout the opening half to wide receiver Zhyair Brown. There had been some near misses. This next one did not miss. Open behind the defense, Brown pulled down a 70-yard mortar that sent NB into the break up 28-14.
"I was trying to go into the half up as many points as possible, and I knew Zhyair was down there somewhere, so I just trusted him," Seymour said. "He made a play and I couldn't be happier."
The Blue Knights punched back behind their touchdown machine from a year ago, Ben Beaulieu. The junior took a short toss on third-and-1 for a 58-yard score on Southington's first possession, then followed up a John-Michael Speight interception with a 48-yard TD in which he simply refused to go down.
Problem was, Javier Zenquis was waiting to spring. He checked with a linesman to make sure he was onside. Good thing. He wasn't. Repositioned, he made the play of the game.
"It's a game of inches, and I knew that one point makes a difference, so anything could happen," Zenquis said. "And it turns out, that's what happened."
Southington, which was playing without injured wide receiver Walker Mierzejewski, its vertical threat, will look to rebound next week against Maloney at Falcon Field. If past is prologue, the New Britain loss could be a springboard. After losing at New Britain 48-14 last year, Southington reeled off seven straight wins to reach the Class LL final.
"They're a good team, but we definitely didn't help ourselves out tonight," said Southington coach Rob Levesque. "We're going to take every ounce of the learning that needs to come out of this game and use it to our benefit. We're going to get better and fix it."
Player of the Game
Javier Zenquis: Jaden Benitez, Billy Seymour and Zhyair Brown had the touchdowns, but Zenquis had the blocked extra point that ultimately was the difference.
Quotable
"Some of the guys were getting mad at me, trying too hard on scout (team in practice). But, hey, hard work pays off and I got the block."
- Javier Zenquis.
New Britain 28, Southington 27
NEW BRITAIN 14 14 0 0-28
SOUTHINGTON 7 7 13 0-27
NB-Billy Seymour 7 run (Jonathan Nunez kick)
S-Nick Andrews 10 pass from Jacoby Roman (Jacob Carrier kick)
NB-Jaden Benitez 60 run (Nunez kick)
S-Leif Renehan 87 pass from Roman (Carrier kick)
NB-Benitez 1 run (Nunez kick)
NB-Zhyair Brown 70 pass from Seymour (Nunez kick)
S-Ben Beaulieu 58 run (Carrier kick)
S-Beaulieu 49 run (kick blocked)
Records: New Britain 6-2; Southington 7-1.
This article originally published at New Britain takes down undefeated No. 6 Southington with help from a third-quarter blocked PAT.