September 17, 2006Getting Defensive: Trinity Stops St. Joseph to Preserve Opening Winfrom The Stamford Advocate TRUMBULL -- Much of the reason behind the hype leading up to the Trinity Catholic High School football team's opening game yesterday at St. Joseph was its depth at running back. Yet on a day when their primary strength was nullified, the Crusaders' ability to adapt proved to be their greatest asset. Anas Koummal threw two long touchdown passes and the defense came up with a stifling effort, leading Trinity to a 14-6 win at Dalling Field. The outcome was not decided until an interception by the Crusaders' Eric Stephens on his 36-yard line with 21 seconds left. "They forced us to do some things we're not great at but proved we could do," said Trinity coach Bryan Fox, who started the season with a victory for the first time in three years. "I don't think anyone has talked about our defense but they did a great job." After scoring with 7:59 remaining, the Cadets had the ball three more times -- each starting in Trinity territory -- but came away empty-handed. One drive ended at the 18 on Ryan Durkin's second interception of the game. Another stalled after Vinny Cortese stopped quarterback Gene Cellini at the eight on a fourth-down play after St. Joseph had a first down at the 9. Finally, after the Cadets forced a punt and got the ball at the Trinity 35 with 30 seconds left, Stephens stepped in front of an attempted dump-off by Cellini to preserve the win. "It was a great defensive effort. It kept us in the game," said Durkin, a co-captain and the lone returning starter in the secondary. "We've got a lot of heart. This was a huge game for us." The Crusaders had plenty of defensive standouts, starting with Cortese, the linebacker who was a focal point of the Cadets' gameplan. He got help from a defensive line led by tackles Mario Pirolozzi and Santiago Steele. In addition to his interceptions, Durkin defended three passes. St. Joseph (35 rushes for 87 yards) averaged 2.5 yards per carry. Eleven of them went for negative yardage. "I thought we were quicker on the line and could get to (Cortese), but we never got close to blocking him," St. Joseph coach Joe Della Vecchia said. The effort was necessary because, aside from the two scores, the Crusaders did very little offensively. They finished with just four first downs -- two of which came on roughing-the-kicker calls on their first possession and set up Koummal's 48-yard scoring strike to Tyler Collins, a senior who joined the team for the first time. That play, along with a 34-yard touchdown pass to John O'Leary in the third quarter, accounted for nearly half of the team's 168 yards on the day. Trinity finished with just 50 rushing yards on 27 carries. "We always say the first thing we try to hang our hats on is defense and the second thing is we pride ourselves on running the ball between the tackles," Fox said. "I'm not sure if we were missing our blocks or they were prepared since they also run the wing-T." The Cadets were active defensively, but that did little to soothe their coach. "We had absolutely no effort," Della Vecchia said. "We didn't show up to play. It was almost like we didn't try." Trinity was stopped the first time it had the ball, but overly aggressive special teams play kept the drive alive. Two plays after the second infraction, Koummal underthrew Collins, who adjusted to make the catch and then broke a tackle by Pat Fortuna for the score with 5:44 left in the period. "This is my second year at quarterback and there is no more pressure on me," Koummal said. "I just have to come through." Koummal is part of a revamped secondary -- along with O'Leary and Kyle Foti -- that stopped three straight passing attempts after St. Joseph had a first down on the Trinity 5 in the second quarter. Trinity's lone first down of the second half set up the score to O'Leary, who got behind Fortuna with 34 seconds left in the third quarter. "The run wasn't working so we just had to cock back and launch it," Koummal said. St. Joseph used a seven-play, 58-yard drive to get back in the game, with Chris Satti scoring on a seven-yard run. But the Trinity defense was unyielding the rest of the way. While the Crusaders likely will not meet Fox's goal of going 1-0 every week, it appears to have the pieces in place to make a run at a Class S state tournament berth. "This game is big but so is next week's," Fox said. "Today we came in to an absolute war and came out the victor." NOTES -- Trinity avenged a 28-0 loss to St. Joseph in week one a year ago. ... Koummal completed seven of 16 passes for 118 yards and one interception. Stephens (11-31) was the leading rusher. Cellini, in his first start, was 11 of 24 for 125 yards. Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
 Big senior defensive tackle Vladimir Joseph swims by an offensive lineman in a 28-20 home victory over Fairfield Ludlowe on October 29, 2005. (CrusaderNation.net / Dana Maul)
 Junior defensive tackle Santiago "Teggy" Steele wraps up a Darien
rusher as his
 Junior center Cory Johnson prepares to snap the ball to fellow classmate
 The Crusader offensive line pushes Bassick around in the mud. The
Crusaders
 Senior wideout Rob Hawthorn races downfield to block as junior fullback
Eric Stephens
 2005 All-FCIAC East Offense Row 1, Left to Right: Eric Wells, Bassick; Willie Epps, McMahon;
Pete Raymond,
 2005 All-FCIAC East Defense Row 1, Left to Right: Joe Luchesi, Danbury; Greg Sabo, Danbury; James
Taylor, Danbury;
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