SPB's High School Football

After a tense first-half, it appears nothing has changed since Ansonia and Derby last clashed on a football field.

Ansonia and, more to the point, Montrell Dobbs and his offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, erased an early deficit and won the first meeting of these border rivals since 2003 convincingly — pretty much the way most Ansonia teams dominated the last few years of the rivalry.

A couple thousand showed up to Lou DeFilippo Field and watched Dobbs run for 193 yards on 32 carries and score four touchdowns. Derby led early on D’Ron Conyers‘ 11-yard touchdown run and, later, tied the game with an electric return by Jake Tomczack.

But Ansonia took a 21-14 lead a few minutes later and, just when it seemed as if the Red Raiders would get the equalizer just before halftime, Ansonia’s defense stiffened and then Dobbs went untouched to block Luis Casco‘s late field goal attempt to keep the Chargers in front by seven at the break.

From there, it was all Ansonia. The Chargers tacked on a field goal to begin the third quarter and then pulled away with two more scores from Dobbs and a late 53-yard run by Bobby Kinnebrew.

Afterward, the players, who beat the stuffing out of each other for four quarters tonight, suddenly became friends again as they went through their postgame handshakes, which is what this rivalry is all about. Friendly neighbors off the field, fierce rivals on it while their parents and townspeople screamed at each other in the stands. These two programs aren’t at their height right now, but still, this was a great night for Valley Football.

But now everybody will go their separate ways until next year’s big game (hopefully one that’s at least a bit closer). Ansonia wins big and keeps its slim playoff hopes alive, Derby/O’Brien Tech, which is right at home here in the NVL by the way, drops to 3-4 with its third-straight loss.

Watch all of the big plays from the game here as we wind down what has so far been relatively tame Week 7: