The Notre Dame football team clicked on all cylinders in the first half, scoring on all six possessions, enroute to its 40-13 win over Branford last Thursday. The win was the first for first-year head coach Joe DeCaprio, who took over when the legendary Tom Marcucci retired in December.
“It’s a great feeling,” said DeCaprio. “It’s definitely not about me though. I am glad we got win number one on the season for the kids. We played really well in the first half and I am proud of them and we are going to sing that fight song really loud on the bus ride home.”
Notre Dame scored on a pair of touchdown runs and an unconventional fumble recovery in the first quarter. First, Justin Shanley jumped on a Chris Elias fumble in the end zone to open the scoring. Kaileb Cadet ‘18 and Nick Petruzzelli added 55 and six-yard touchdown runs.
The second quarter saw Elias and Zach Hochman team up for three touchdown passes from 17, then 13, then 55 yards out as the Green Knights raced to a comfortable 40-0 halftime lead.
Notre Dame returns to action traveling to Amity for its last game before the bye week on Friday. GoGreenKnights.com will stream game live at 7 p.m.
Soccer moves to 3-2-3 — Thomas Ellis ‘20 salvaged a 1-1 tie with Sheehan with a late goal in its SCC contest on last Thursday. Notre Dame had fallen behind with less than six minutes to play before Ellis saved the day with his late goal.
“When we got down a goal, we did not panic, said head coach Rudy Raffone. “We continued pressing. The ball squirted out to Ellis and he shot a low hard shot far pole that the keeper could not stop.”
Earlier in the week, offense was not a problem as the Green Knights erupted for five first-half goals, four in the last eight minutes of the half to erase an early 1-0 deficit, en route to a 7-1 win over East Haven on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at Veterans Field.
Chris Seeland scored on a pair of penalty kicks while Joe Antonucci ‘18 added a pair of regulation-time goals to lead Notre Dame. Andrew Marinelli ‘18 netted the game winner as his score gave ND a 2-1 lead.
Franco Acuna and Christian Fillion added second half goals for Notre Dame. Jay Brennan recorded his second straight win in goal.
Cross-country Runs Third in Invitational — The cross-country team placed third in the Large School division in the 6th annual Harry Gerahty Invitational on Friday at Nevers Park in South Windsor.
The seven varsity runners all finished within 29 seconds of one another over the 5K length race. In addition, the top five runners finished within 16 seconds of each other. The Green Knights were led by Thomas Minar who finished 31st overall and ran in a time of 19:15.
Four of the next seven runners to cross the finish line were Green Knight harriers, all within 10 seconds of one another. Jacob Carson crossed the finish line next in 35th place in a time of 19:21.
Harlem Wizards — The Notre Dame basketball team will be hosting a benefit basketball game with the Harlem Wizards on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 pm at the University of New Haven gymnasium. This event is a fundraiser for the Green Knights basketball team, who will play three games in Orlando during winter recess as part of a tournament at the Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World. Tickets are $12 for adults/$10 for students if purchased in advance. For more information, visit https://www.notredamehs.com or ND’s social media outlets @NDWHAthletics.
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