Hawks Fly Past Eagles; Head to NVL Championship

It was not quite as dominating of a performance as shutting out Naugatuck in Week 8, but a 42-12 win over Kennedy on Senior Night at Woodland is certainly a good way to head into the NVL Championship against Ansonia.

Things did not start off in a winning fashion for the Hawks. The Eagles received the opening kickoff and went on a long, 63-yard, 13-play drive lasting 6:53 to get on the board first. It was all gained on the ground with an unorthodox offense, with the punctutation being put on the drive by Brad Ingram's 6-yard touchdown run. The 2-point conversion failed, making it 6-0 in the first quarter.

Woodland, though, would not sit still and allow Kennedy to run the show on Senior Night. The Hawks struck right back with a 4 minute drive ending in a Will Volage 3-yard scoring dash to tie it up at 6. Brandon Fowler knocked the PAT through to give Woodland a 7-6 lead.

Colin Grommisch's ensuing kickoff was muffed by Alex Ortiz and recovered at the Kennedy 33-yard-line by Justin Smith. It took the Hawks only 4 plays to score with that good field position, and it was again Volage to get into the end zone on a 5-yard run. Fowler's point after made it 14-6 early in the second period.

The Woodland defense made its first stand of the night on the Eagles' next possession, forcing a turnover on downs at the Woodland 37. But once again the Hawk offense could not be stopped, as this time Sidney Sumler scampered 5 yards into the end zone for the third Woodland score of the night. Fowler's 50th PAT of the season made it 21-6 in favor of the home Hawks.

The Hawk defense forced another turnover on downs, this one deep inside their own territory at the 6. The offense tried to drive down field for a score, using both the Wing-T and the classic Hawk spread offense, but a snap over Cody Kingsley's head on 4th down at the Kennedy 15 ended the drive and the first half with Woodland leading, 21-6.

The Hawks came out of the half and scored right out of the gate. Kingsley engineered a 6-play, 60-yard drive ending in his touchdown pass to Eric Alfiere from 5 yards out. Fowler came on for the kick to make it 28-6.

The Eagles answered, going on a drive which consisted of 14 plays and nearly 9 minutes of clock resulting in another Ingram TD run, this one from 3 yards out. The conversion failed again, cutting the lead to 28-12.

Volage scored his third touchdown of the night on Woodland's next possession. The run came from 8 yards out, and Fowler's kick made it 35-12.

After a Kennedy punt, Steve Petracca came in as quarterback and fumbled the ball back to the Eagles. But the defense stood its ground and forced another punt.

The final Hawk scoring drive of the night was a short drive, beginning at the Kennedy 29 and consisting of 4 plays. Sean Hansen scored his first touchdown of the season on a 9-yard run to push Woodland over 40 points once again. Fowler's PAT stretched the gap to 42-12 with 3:18 to play.

Grommisch assured that the Eagles would not score again when he intercepted a Jarrie Hathaway pass at the Kennedy 39. Woodland ran the rest of the clock out to seal a 30-point victory on Senior Night.

With the win, the Hawks improved to 8-1 on the season. They will play for the NVL Championship against Ansonia on Thursday, November 15th at Municipal Stadium at 6:00 PM. The Chargers clinched the NVL Brass Division with a 20-12 win over Seymour on Thursday night. Back in Week 3, Ansonia defeated the Hawks, 62-35, in the game where Alex Thomas set the state single-game rushing record of 519 yards.

WRHSOnline.net will have the broadcast of the game once again. Following the NVL Championship, Woodland will play at Seymour in the Thanksgiving Eve battle at 6:00. That game could determine whether or not the Hawks qualify for the Class SS Playoffs. Right now, Woodland is in 2nd place in the Class SS Standings, behind the Wildcats.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Kennedy	7	14	7	14	42
Woodland	6	0	6	0	12

1st Quarter-
KEN- (5:07) Ingram 6 yard run (conversion failed)
WOOD- (1:05) Volage 3 yard run (Fowler kick)
2nd Quarter-
WOOD- (11:06) Volage 5 yard run (Fowler kick)
WOOD- (5:39) Sumler 5 yard run (Fowler kick)
3rd Quarter-
WOOD- (9:31) Kingsley 5 yard pass to Alfiere (Fowler kick)
KEN- (0:54) Ingram 3 yard run (conversion failed)
4th Quarter-
WOOD- (11:48) Volage 8 yard run (Fowler kick)
WOOD- (3:18) Hansen 9 yard run (Fowler kick)