November 4, 2008That Special Season: Stamford Catholic Heroes Look Back at '78 State Titlefrom The Stamford Advocate They were quite the determined group of Crusaders. They were serious, fun and a bit snarly all at the same time, and oh, so determined. The previous year most of them were a group of talented juniors that had lost to Ansonia in the Class S state football championship game, and in this particular year they were oh, so determined to make amends for that. This particular year was 30 years ago when the 1978 Stamford Catholic High School football team did indeed fulfill their goal. It was a memorable year when the '78 Crusaders - with the seniors actually members of Stamford Catholic's Class of 1979 - staged a late-season surge and captured the Class S state championship with a 20-9 victory over St. Joseph at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport. It is still a prideful memory and a highlight of a lifetime for coach Joe Anzalone and the players. "It was a wonderful experience," Anzalone said via phone from his home in Naples, Fla. "Occasionally I run into some people from Stamford and some ex-players. It is a pleasant experience. I don't like to look back too much but when I do it feels good." "Oh, man! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago. It really doesn't," Dave "Duck" Puzzuoli said from his office in Cleveland, where he had a five-year NFL career with the Browns from 1983-87. "I just remember having so many great memories, so many laughs and so many great times. It just doesn't seem that far away. But, wow... it's mind-boggling to think it's been 30 years ago." Puzzuoli was a two-time selection as a defensive player on the prestigious New Haven Register All-State Team and one of many veteran two-way stars for the '78 Crusaders. Jerry McFadden, Tim Brennan, Tom Fallon, kicker Greg Rothermich, Chris Robustelli and Puzzuoli were six of the 27 players selected to the All-FCIAC Western Division Team along with Greenwich junior quarterback Steve Young. Puzzuoli was a 6-2, 215-pound middle linebacker/center who went on to play at the University of Pittsburgh with the likes of Dan Marino and Jimbo Covert when Pitt was a national power. McFadden, another 6-2, 215-pounder, started at defensive end and offensive tackle for the '78 Crusaders and he later played for the University of Pennsylvania. Fallon was a linebacker/offensive guard, Brennan a linebacker/fullback, and Robustelli a wide receiver/defensive back. Senior defensive end/offensive tackle Pete Shaffery, a 6-3, 215-pounder, was All-FCIAC honorable mention along with defensive tackle Joe Tassitano. Tim Dougherty started at wide receiver and defensive back, while some other key starters included defensive backs Gary Palomba and Chuck DeCarlo, defensive tackle John Romano, offensive guard Ray Hall, halfback Kevin Fahey and sophomore quarterback Roger Haggerty. Most of them were key players on the '77 team. Anzalone and his assistant coaches, Jack Slavinsky and Mickey Lione Jr., had a dilemma going into the spring practices of 1978 as to who would run Stamford Catholic's Wing-T offense at quarterback. "From what I remember growing up, Catholic always had good football teams," Haggerty recalled. "They were constantly knocking on the door and they had been to the state championship the year before when I was a freshman. I went into school as a running back. Then Joe Anzalone and Mickey Lione asked me before spring football if I would try out for quarterback. We had a lot of seniors on the team coming back and the next thing you know I got a shot to start. Out of 22 (starting positions), 21 were seniors and I was starting at quarterback." Fahey had a promising sophomore season at running back but was beset by injuries in his junior and senior years. He was sidelined by a hamstring injury for the first half of the 1978 season. After a scoreless tie with Brien McMahon on Nov. 3, the Crusaders were 5-2-1, pretty much out of contention for the title in the rugged FCIAC Western Division, and they slipped to fourth in the Class S rankings. Only the top two teams in each respective class advanced to a state championship game. So the Crusaders needed to win their last two games and get some outside help just to get to the state championship game. They got that when Weston pulled off a major upset, beating Central Catholic of Norwalk on Thanksgiving. "We were scrambling because we had all kinds of injuries early in the year," Anzalone said. "We lost our best back, Kevin Fahey, and our fullback Brennan was injured. We were fortunate that we had a sophomore quarterback, Roger Haggerty, who really did a great job that year. And then it all came together. Kevin came back and was ready for the state championship against St. Joe's. We felt that if we could just get to the championship game that we'd be OK. We were very confident. The big thing was we had to hope Central Catholic would get beat. They had to lose to a Weston team that won one game all year. Weston beat Central Catholic, we backed in and won the whole thing." Puzzuoli had two interceptions while Fahey rushed for 141 yards on 21 carries, including a 52-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-1 situation, to lead Stamford Catholic past a St. Joseph team that took an 11-0 record into the game. Haggerty had a 21-yard TD run and completed all six of his passes to Robustelli, including a 31-yard touchdown connection, and Robustelli picked off his 11th pass of the year. "I think about that (state title) a lot," Fahey said. "It was a great feeling because we worked all year for it. We had two disappointing losses, we lost the state championship the previous year and we wanted to make sure it didn't happen again. When we came so close the year before it was a big disappointment. We were all juiced up for that that last game to make sure we came away with the win. "Winning that day was great," Fahey added. "We all played a fantastic game. Puzzuoli had a great game, our offensive line was knocking people all over the place, Chris Robustelli had a long TD pass delivered by Haggerty. So we had a nice ending. It's something that doesn't happen to a lot of kids. When it happens it's something you remember." Copyright © 2008, 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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