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Sports

Fairfield Prep Football Defeats Hamden, 28-14

Dillon Ryan rushes for 120 yards and twotouchdowns as the Jesuits improveto 5-2

Nobody ever wants to see anyone get hurt, but Joe McBride's injury has given Dillon Ryan a chance and the former  backup Fairfield Prep running back is making the most of the opportuinity.

Ryan rushed for 120 yards and two  touchdowns on 22 carries Friday as the Jesuits defeated Hamden 28-14 at Alumni Field to improve to 5-2.

Although the Jesuits went to sleep in the second half, according to coach Tom Shea, they established an effective ground game early behind Ryan, who churned out 70 yards on 10 carries in the first quarter, including a 5-yard TD run that tied the contest 7-7 with 11:24 left in the first half.

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"Sadly, football has injuries sometimes," Shea said. "A good team is one that has depth. You tell guys this at the beginning of the season that lineups are going to change. People have to be ready. It may not be until game eight or game nine when your number is called and then you have to be ready to go."

While Hamden, now 1-6, came into Friday's contest with only one win, the Green Dragons featured a talented quarterback in Tim Dube, who threw four touchdown passes in last week's 48-41 victory over Branford that snapped Hamden's 17-game losing streak.

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"These guys have been scoring a lot of points," Shea said. "They had 48 against Branford, 34 against Amity, 31 against West Haven. They can score a lot of points, they're dangerous and we wanted to control the ball, keep it out of their hands. We did a good job in the first half."

The Jesuits utilized a ball control offense to kept Dube on the sidelines, scoring on three consecutive possessions after Hamden had taken a 7-0 lead on Stephen Gary's 24-yard TD run with 3:19 left in the first quarter. The Jesuits answered with an eight-play, 65-yard march to pull even.

Fairfield Prep went to the air on its next possession as quarterback Tom Brewster completed passes of 28 yards to Dillon and 20 yards to Shane Dempsey to set up Dempsey's 4-yard scamper that cappped a six-play, 51-yard drive.

After stopping Hamden a yard short on 4th-and-8 from the Fairfield Prep 37, the Jesuits strung together an eight-play, 70-yard drive to go up 21-7 on Brewster's 38-yard TD strike to Michael Niche with 2:03 left in the half.

For the most part, Fairfield Prep did a solid job containing Dube. He did complete 14-of-28 passes, but he only threw for 152 yards, and much of that was in the second half when Hamden was in catch-up mode. Also, the Jesuits didn't give up anything deep.

However, Fairfield Prep's offense sputtered for most of the second half as its first six possessions resulted in four three-and-outs and two fumbles.

That allowed the Green Dragons to pull within 21-14 on Dube's 27-yard TD pass to Derrick Atkinson with 10:27 left in the contest after the Jesuits' second fumble.

Following an exchange of punts, Brewster, who rushed for 85 yards on 10 carries, took over on the Jesuits' clinching drive.

After Dempsey picked up Prep's intial first down of the half, Brester ripped of a 28-yard gain to move the ball to the Green Dragons' 20. The signal-caller than carried for gains of 2 and 15 yards to set up Ryan's 3-yard TD run with 4:26 remaining.

It marked the second straight game that Ryan went over 100 yards as he rushed for 180 yards in last week' 39-32 win over Amity.

"He's hungry," Shea said. "He is a well-built, strong kid, an excellent athlete. When we looked at the film (from last week), not only do he do a great running, but a wonderful job blocking. That's all about attitude, coming out and blocking the way he did."

The Green Dragons tried to answer, but their final drive stalled on the Jesuits' 9-yard-line with three straight incompletions.

Fairfield Prep now only needs one more victory to clinch a winning season, but its final three games are against Shelton, Notre Dame of West Haven and West Haven.

"(I) wish we were 6-1 or 7-0, but this it's a great step forward for us," Shea said. "We're pleased where we are right now, but we are aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

"They're three teams that are good football teams, but teams that we should be able to compete with if we bring our 'A' game."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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