Sports
Greenwich wins opener against Ridgefield 16-3 under Friday Night Lights
Despite offense power outage and one with the lights the Cardinals prevail.
The stands were filled and the parking lots were harder to navigate than the ones in and around Yankee Stadium. What does that mean? Football is back in Greenwich.
After a dismal 5-5 record last year the Greenwich Cardinals are looking to turn it around this season and head north of 500. If last nights game was a preview of the how they are going to do that, it will be with hard work, great defense and excellent special teams.
With Liam O’Neil sidelined with a concussion suffered in the teams last scrimmage game with Masuk, the Cardinals sent out sophomore Jose Melo to call the signals. The rookie QB looked comfortable under center, showing off a strong arm, often too stong, as coach Albonzio noted after the game, but his inexperience saw him go 3-17 with less than 40 yards passing and one interception.
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On the other side of the ball the Cardinals defense and special teams came ready to play and support the sophomore quarterback and it took them only a minute and a half to convey that message.
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Greenwich halted Ridgefield's offense at their own 16-yard line in the opening drive of the game forcing them to punt. Greenwich Senior linebacker Kyle Camacho burst through the Ridgefield line to block the punt into the end zone for a 2-point safety.
With the crowd energized and the emotion meter swung in their direction it seemed like Greenwich would steamroll Ridgefield the rest of the evening. On the very next drive running back Mike Daly took a snap direct from center 60 yards into the end zone. The crowds euphoria was quickly quelled when Greenwich was called for holding on the play and it was brought back.
That play seemed to awaken Ridgefield’s defense which went toe to toe with Greenwich’s, stopping everyone of their first half drives. The momentum then swung further in their direction when Sam Gravitte converted a 22-yard field goal with 2:05 remaining in the first half.
Ridgefield went into the halftime break with the energy and enthusiasm to look like they could actually steal a victory on the Cardinals home turf. On the other side of the field Greenwich, after a called back touchdown with a penalty and a fumble by Joel Arroyo at the Ridgefield one yard line, was still searching for how to get points on the board.
Fifteen seconds into the second half they found out how they were going to do that. Special teams and defense. With his teammates standing on the sideline encouraging him to take it to the house and redeem himself after his fumble, Senior Joel Arroyo who acknowledged their request with a wave and salute, caught the kickoff between the 7 and 8 yard line (see video) ran to his right to avoid a tackle, cut through a hole and scampered up the left sideline 92 yards for a touchdown and what eventually would be the winning score in the game.
From that point on the Cardinals controlled the game shutting down Ridgefield’s attack, forcing them to make 5 turnovers in the game. The big one was Mike Daly’s 82-yard interception run with 5:54 remaining in the third quarter. Daly ran the identical path teammate Arroyo did on his kickoff return.
With the score 16 -3 and with 3:33 remaining in the game the light post at the northeast end of the stadium went dark. After debating whether or not to see if they would go back on, the officials decided to just turn the game around and had the play continue in the other direction under the lighted part of the field.
That move seemed to help Ridgefield as the marched into the red zone and looked as if they would score the games first offensive touchdown. With a minute and 50 seconds left Ridgefield QB Connor Rowe (20-34 for 235) tossed a dart to the one yard 1 yard line only to have it intercepted Greenwich junior Joe Kelly.
Greenwich then ran the clock our for their first victory and a stamp of approval for their special teams and defense.
Both teams return to the field next Saturday, Sept. 23. The Cardinals (1-0) face off against Bassick at home. Ridgefield (0-1) will have their home opener against Fairfield Ludlowe.
