November 23, 2007Wilton Beats Trinity 44-6from The Stamford Advocate STAMFORD - One cannot end a stellar high school football career any better than the way Wilton senior fullback Chris Kozlowski did yesterday at Trinity Catholic High School. Kozlowski ripped off four long TD runs, including three that were no less than 54 yards in the second quarter. Just as he seemingly was constantly running away from the Crusaders, his team ran away with a 44-6 victory. It was 23-0 just 13 minutes into the game, 30-0 with 8:33 remaining in the second quarter, and the Warriors had a 44-0 halftime lead. Kozlowski rushed for 257 yards on just 16 carries, a robust average of 16.1 yards per carry, and finished with 1,055 yards rushing on 150 carries on the season. Kozlowski's first TD run of 25 yards opened the scoring with 10:02 remaining in the first quarter, and in the second quarter he added touchdown runs of 69, 60 and 54 yards. He racked up 185 yards on just four carries in the second quarter. "This is every player's dream, to have a game like this," Kozlowski said. "This game is one I'll want to remember for the rest of my life. It's just incredible to go out like this." "You have to give a lot of credit to that kid," Wilton coach Tim Eagen said. "He's been a three-year starter at fullback, he's a captain, he's a great leader and he's a heck of a young man. It's fitting he goes out this way." The Warriors finished 7-3 for the second straight year. Last year Trinity Catholic shut them out, 12-0, on Thanksgiving. The Crusaders, who were 7-3 last year, finished 3-7 this year with a much more inexperienced team. Vince Carter scored their touchdown on a 23-yard run with 8:12 remaining. Junior fullback Nick Cortese became a 1,000-yard rusher on the season. He had 940 yards coming into the game and he added 98 yards on 21 rushes yesterday. Trinity's Carlos Romero rushed for 86 yards on 10 carries. The Crusaders were without John O'Leary (mononucleosis) and they're quite the different team without him. Among their losses this year were some real tough ones early. Westhill utilized a 42-yard TD pass with 5.3 seconds remaining in the game to win a 35-34 thriller from Trinity Catholic in the second game of the year. One week later Fairfield Ludlowe scored a touchdown with 28 seconds left to pull out a 25-22 victory over the Crusaders. "We were two plays away from a 5-5 record," Trinity Catholic coach Bryan Fox noted. Trinity Catholic has a much smaller enrollment than most of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference schools, and things are difficult on the Crusaders when they're young and inexperienced. But Fox will not now or ever in the future use that as an excuse. "We're trying to get out of the development, reloading and rebuilding part," Fox said. "We want to compete every year. Every good team buried us this year. We want to be a team that can step into the ring and swing with them in every game. With so many sophomores on defense, it's hard to tell how much we improved. To have an entire year under their belt, especially on the defensive side of the ball, is big. Hopefully that will show next year." Wilton quarterback Vinnie Cannon fired TD passes of 31 and 29 yards to Jared Wyman. Max Stroup added a two-point conversion run after Wyman's 31-yard TD reception to give Wilton a 16-0 lead with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter. Then the Warriors scored 28 points on just five plays in the second quarter, getting touchdowns on their last four offensive plays. Kozlowski blasted through a huge hole opened up by 6-foot, 230-pound left guard Luke Wakeen and 6-foot, 205-pound left tackle Jake Alexander, made a shifty cutback to the middle and scored on his 69-yard TD on the second play of the period. Jeff Liebowitz converted the first of his four straight extra-point kicks to give Wilton that 23-0 lead with 11:12 remaining in the second quarter. The Crusaders decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 29 but Wilton's Dave Rinaldi and Jim Kachadoorian combined to stop Cortese for no gain. Cannon fired a 29-yard TD pass to Wyman on the next play. The Crusaders were unable to get a first down and punted after their two next series. So Kozlowski amazingly took it to the house on the first play after each of those Trinity punts, adding his 60- and 54-yard TD runs. "It was just one of those things where you see the field is wide open, no one is in front of you, you're just scared that someone's going to catch you from behind and you keep running," Kozlowski said. "I have to give all of the credit to my offensive linemen. They mean everything to me. Without them, this team would be nothing." In addition to Wakeen and Alexander, Kozlowski also praised right guard Joe Smith, center Kachadoorian, right tackle Joe Lasala, and tight end Scott Young. "It seemed like everybody I talked to (on Trinity's defense) said they were getting hit by a big boy," Fox said. NOTES: Stroup had an interception and Shagi recovered a fumble for Wilton, while Carter recovered a fumble for Trinity Catholic. Copyright © 2007, 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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