October 22, 2006Bunnell's air show overpowers Trinity: QB Smith has 410 passing yards against Crusadersfrom The Stamford Advocate STRATFORD -- Trinity Catholic High School's football team was done in the same way unbeaten Bunnell's previous five opponents were done in. The Crusaders were gunned down by the awesome aerial attack directed by superb senior quarterback Steve Smith. And Davon Polite was not too shabby either. Smith fired three touchdown passes while throwing for 410 yards, he also ran for an 8-yard TD, while Polite had three touchdowns to lead the host Bulldogs to a 40-20 victory last night. The performances from that pair offset a big night from Vinny Cortese, who rushed for 142 yards on 18 carries and all three touchdowns for Trinity Catholic (3-3). Smith, who directed a no-huddle offense out of the shotgun, had TD passes of 67 yards to Michael Easley, 12 yards to Polite, and then an 85-yarder to Polite. The strong-armed 6-foot, 190-pounder completed 18-of-44 passes with two interceptions. "He's the best (quarterback) we've played against," Trinity Catholic coach Bryan Fox said. "He's probably the best we've played against in a long time. He's a heck of a player." Smith also rushed for 43 yards on 10 carries, including having to take a loss of 14 yards with a sack on a fourth-down play. Most of his rushes were off of improvised scrambles. "He's a tough quarterback to defend," Fox said. "He runs it well, he puts the ball in the air. He can beat you both ways." The Bulldogs had just 21 running plays. Mario Guerrero led them with 47 yards on nine carries, including a 1-yard TD dive to open the scoring. "We throw it on almost every down," Bunnell coach Craig Bruno said. "As you could see, even when we try to run it we can't even run out the clock." In addition to his two TD receptions, Polite got Bunnell's fourth interception late in the fourth quarter and he returned it 85 yards for his third and Bunnell's final touchdown. Bunnell's 6-0 Bulldogs were ranked 15th in the most recent state coaches poll and they were tied for second with Staples in the Class L rankings that will determine the playoff teams in that class. "This was a big win for us," Bruno said. "Every win is a big win. This is big because they're 3-3 and they're going to win a lot more games. They're good. "We knew they were real good. They play real hard and they're physical. We were lucky to be able to hit some long passes and get out of here with a win." The Crusaders had the game's first offensive series and moved to Bunnell's 25, with a 37-yard run by A.J. Stephens (55 yards on 10 carries) being the major play. But on third-and-12 from the 27, Easley made a nice interception in the back corner of the end zone. Trinity's John O'Leary thwarted Bunnell's opening drive with a nice interception in which he reached down to snatch a tipped pass just before it hit the muddy turf. The Bulldogs scored on their next drive as Guerrero's 1-yard TD run culminated a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Smith fired a two-point conversion to Easley. At the end of the first quarter Smith really showed off his strong arm. He scrambled to his left and fired the ball 62 yards downfield. The 6-foot-2 Easley jumped up to grab it at the Trinity 13 and he eluded two defenders to get it into the end zone. Smith completed 6-of-10 passes for 158 yards in the first quarter. The Crusaders bounced back with some rugged running by Cortese as he broke a tackle at the 8 en route to a 10-yard TD run. David Arana cut the deficit to 14-7 with the extra point. Smith countered with his 8-yard TD run to stake Bunnell to a 20-7 halftime lead. Polite's 12-yard TD run gave Bunnell a 26-7 lead. But the Crusaders kept scrapping back to make things interesting before Polite's interception return sealed it. Kyle Foti also had an interception for Trinity. "I think, with wins and losses, we're going to be a little disappointed," Fox said. "We wanted to do more. Now what we have left is to play for the city championship. But you never base everything on wins and losses. We showed a lot of grit tonight. We kept playing hard and we came back. We showed a lot of character." 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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