Friday September 27, 2013
The Daniel Hand Tiger Football Team (1-1) will look to open their brand new home field the right way with a win against Wilbur Cross tonight a 7pm. The new turf looks great, the new scoreboard is in and as of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, all the bench seats were installed in the bleachers. Bathrooms are not included until the next phase of the project, so there are about a dozen porta-potties lined up by the west end zone. It looks like there are just a few finishing touches left today and Strong Field at the Surf Club will be ready for game time. One of the "touches" will involve finding a spot to install Hand's 11th State Championship flag won last season.
Last week the Tigers found themselves in a precarious position, down 18-0 in the first half of their game against Hillhouse. After the New Canaan debacle in week one, and now down three scores in the first half, it was starting to look like 2013 was going to be a loooooooong year. Then things started to click. The Tigers scored the next 25 points to take the lead. A fourth quarter drive by Hillhouse put the Academics back in front after a touchdown and two point conversion gave them a one point lead with four minutes left. Hand then drove down to the Hillhouse 2 yard line and on fourth and goal, Tyler Phan kicked a 19 yard field goal to with 5.7 seconds left in the game and sealed the 28-26 win for the Tigers. See a recap and photos here: New Haven Register article
PATCH PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tough one... Sophomore QB Nick VanDell came in to the game and provided a spark to get the offense moving. His ability to see the openings and run to daylight forced the defense to keep a close watch on him and that opened up opportunities for others. Conor Dowd had 92 yards rushing. Dan Rogers had an interception and Reid Sweitzer recovered two fumbles, but the POTW has to be Tyler Phan. Hand won the game because they could make the extra points and Hillhouse couldn't. The winning field goal was not the longest kick he has made, but it was clutch. He didn't crack under the pressure and that was the crucial play of the game.
Wilbur Cross (1-1) picked up their first win last week as well, defeating Jonathan Law of Milford 27-24 in overtime.
AROUND THE SCC
The big story of the week was the dismantling of the previously #2 ranked Xavier by North Haven. North Haven dominated them 42-28. And yet the New Haven Register Media dropped Xavier to #9 and left North Haven out of the top ten. The New London Day Coaches Poll corrected that error and ranked North Haven #6. This could be the year for North Haven to challenge for a championship. Last year they went 7-3 and were left out of the playoffs. However, those three losses were against three State Champions; Hand, Xavier and Hillhouse. Oh and by the way... not that we want to look ahead but... North Haven comes to the Surf Club next week.
