St. Joseph's Quinn Irwin celebrates a third-quarter touchdown catch with teammates in the Hogs' 28-27 victory over New Canaan, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010.
Welcome back to SPB’s Masterpiece Theater (ahem), where for our Tuesday matinee we present to you our modest production of Saturday’s St. Joseph-New Canaan game.
You’ll see the media out in force for this Saturday FCIAC clash, but a late-arriving crowd. (Beginning of the game sounded like a mausoleum.)
You’ll see the triumphant return of senior back Tyler Matakevich from a foot injury and his first touchdown of the season, a 1-yard leap on St. Joe’s first drive of the game.
You’ll see St. Joseph senior Pat Mulligan pick off two New Canaan passes in the first half as St. Joseph takes a 7-0 lead at the break. You’ll see St. Joseph extend the lead to 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter on a pair of passes from Joe Della Vecchia to Joe Burns and Quinn Irwin. (You’ll also see Conor Hanratty get his hands on a Della Vecchia pass, with nothing in front of him but turf and the ball slipping through his arms on the last St. Joseph TD drive. Tough break.)
What you won’t see see is a tipped pass interception by St. Joseph’s Nick Adzima early in the fourth quarter (missed it). You won’t see New Canaan’s defense stiffen, keeping the Hogs from putting the game away (editing). You’ll only partially see the Matt Milano-to-John Brainard TD that pulled NC within 21-14 (I lost the play… yeah, this is hardly a masterpiece).
But you will see New Canaan rally to tie the game with a 5-minute drive late in the game. You’ll see the Rams set up for a 2-point conversion with 1:08 remaining, but call time out and kick the extra point.
You’ll see Mulligan return the ensuing kickoff 90 yards to put St. Joseph up 28-21 (and your cameraman getting swamped by delirious St. Joseph players). You’ll see New Canaan march right back, score and this time gofor the 2-point conversion pass.
You’ll see Jerry Kramer, victimized by a few passes on that drive, come up huge and bat the ball away from Patrick Newton at the goal line with 2.8 seconds left.
And, finally, you’ll see the onside kick recovery and one more New Canaan attempt to win the game.
Bizarre stuff. Great game.
We also have a few postgame interviews, including New Cananaan coach Lou Marinelli‘s explanation of the 2-point conversion at 28-27, not 21-20.
If you didn’t catch the replay elsewhere, see it now:
So, as well all know, St. Joseph’s season is taken off life support for the time being. Still plenty of toughies left, vs. Warde, at Norwalk vs. Greenwich, at Trumbull. But they’re sitting at No. 8 in the Class S playoff race.
Once ranked No. 2 in the state polls, New Canaan, now 5-1, finds itself in a precarious position in both the FCIAC and, more importantly, in the Class L race. The Rams are No. 12 in the Class L rankings but have a good shot at making up ground with plumbs like Greenwich, Central and, of course, Darien sitting behing next week’s game vs. Wilton.
There’s no room for error now, for both these teams.
Sean – great video. This game was on MSG last night – the MSG guys trashed the refs on a few occasions. What did you think of the officiating?
@Louie D — I’m so busy trying to shoot, I don’t notice anything until I go back and edit. Even then, simple things like holding calls I don’t notice. There did seem to be a lot of calls made in this game, especially early. I didn’t see what happened on the Mulligan interception return (it was not in my view).
The only time I wondered about a call was the Irwin catch of the tipped pass early in the fourth quarter and St. Joseph trying to eat up clock (a late cut from the video).
Upon further review, they got it right. He dropped it.
@Louis D – I’ll also say I, like most of Connecticut (including Trumbull and Monroe) do not get MSGVarsity. The only time I ever watched a show was when I was on it.
The refereeing was excellent. They had a nice flow and called only the obvious.. The first three penalties on New Canaan were the correst calls but they could have let the first late hit out-of-bounds call go. It was in front of the JOES bench though so they had to call it.
@pete @LouieD – What were the announcers complaining about?
They talked about letting the holds go – siad the blockers are allowed to use their hands. The 90 yard interception call was on SJ#35 – its on your video Sean. Doesn’t look like a block in the back because the NC kid turned. I thought they did a good job too, especially the guy in the white hat.
@Louie D – OK, I see it now.
If I remember correctly the penalty on the INT return on St. Joes was for unsportsmanlike conduct, not for holding. The holding penalty was on New Canaan.
Sean – Truly was a great game. In the many years of attending football games (all levels) I have ever witnessed an on-side kick-off recovered by the kicker. Both kickers were smooth Saturday but that NC # 29 didn’t want the game to end. Tenacious!
@The Dude – Personal foul on St. Joseph. Holding on New Canaan