Sports

Wave Ends Road Stretch By Taking Down the Falcons

Darien running back Jake Wilson rushing vs. Maloney (photo courtesy of DAF)

Braden Schenck, Writer
October 22, 2022

On Friday night, the 3-2 Darien Blue Wave football squad took the trip to Taft Field for a clash with the Fairfield Ludlowe Falcons. This was the finale of a three-game road stretch for the team that saw the Wave demolish Warde and barely sneak out of Wilton with a win.

Ludlowe got the first possession in this one and wasted no time getting the run game going. First play from scrimmage, Ludlowe’s Michael Palladino took the QB keeper for a gain of 28 yards giving some early life to the Falcons. Last year when these two met, also at Taft Field, it was Aaron Field who took the opening kick to the house. So Ludlowe has a history of coming out strong.

A 10-play march downfield gave Ludlowe a 3rd and 6 on the Darien 7-yard line. Jackson Cooke dropped back and threw it to who else but Aaron Field for the Touchdown. It was only the 4th passing TD from the Falcons all season, but this one put them up 7-0.

Darien was looking to take the long shot on their first possession as Simeon Doll tried to take advantage of the Trevor Herget, Ramzee Atta matchup, but the ball went right through Herget’s hands resulting in an incompletion. Darien went three and out before a near-bad snap of Herget, forced a punt and transition of the possession.

On 4th and 10, Ludlowe found themselves going for it. Cooke dropped back and immediately was under pressure from Darien. Cooke was taken down as the ball was knocked loose and Jack Barber jumped on it recovering the fumble for the Wave.

This gave Darien the spark they were looking for as Jake Wilson rushed to the outside for a gain of 50 on the next play! This was immediately met with a pitch to Wilson to the other side for an 8-yard TD making it 7-6.

An offsides call against Ludlowe on the PAT attempt caused head coach Mike Forget to change his mind and bring the offense on for the two-point conversion. Wilson rushed it up the middle and got the two-person conversion making it 8-7 Darien.

A good return on the kickoff found Aaron Field bringing it to the Darien 42 just before a bad snap resulted in another fumble and another Darien recovery. This time it was the senior Dash Ross with the recovery. Ross, only playing in his second career varsity football game made a big recovery.

Darien got it down to the 24-yard line where they faced a 4th and 2 late in the 2nd quarter. Forget keeping the offense on the field had Doll look downfield to Briggs McGuckin. McGuckin fighting off the coverage reeled the ball in at the 4-yard line for the first down. Jake Wilson got the handoff and rushed it up the middle for the Darien score, putting them up 15-7.

Darien had the ball again on the Ludlowe 44 facing a 3rd and 11. Doll dropped back and looked a long way to Trevor Herget for the reception. Herget, having to jump up a bit made the catch and advanced Darien inside the RedZone.

Jake Wilson on the very next play, took the inside handoff, finding a hole to the house for his third touchdown of the first half. Wilson entered play only with seven rushing touchdowns, including a three-touchdown performance at Fairfield Warde.

Jack Barber deflected a 4th and 2 pass from Cooke, creating a turnover on downs and giving the Wave the ball with 2 minutes left before the half. Darien could not convert to score, resulting in a 22-7 Darien lead heading into the half.

Coming out of the half, Ludlowe head coach Mitch Ross had a plan. What started with an onside kick was not recovered by the Falcons, and thus gave Darien the ball starting on the Ludlowe 36.

Darien marched an 8-play, 36-yard drive, which ended when Simeon Doll found Brady Pokorny for the 15 TD catch making it 29-7 Darien.
Aaron Field would be taken down by JD Brennan for a big loss on 2nd and goal. A holding on the next play gave the Falcons the 2nd and goal on the 5. Cooke took the handoff and maneuvered his way through the defenders for the score. The two-point conversion pass would be just high keeping the score at 29-13 Darien.

The teams exchanged turnover on downs before Darien took back over on the Ludlowe 42 to start the fourth quarter. Trevor Herget punted the ball on the 4th down, and another bad snap forced Herget to retreat, but he got the punt off pinning the Falcons back to the 12. Its first play back from the Falcons and the handoff to Aaron Field. Field broke loose and went 63 yards across the field, keeping life in the Falcons.

Ball on the 1, Aaron Field took the snap and pushed everyone to the middle for the Falcon’s touchdown. Field scored cutting it to a 29-19 deficit. The handoff to Field on the two-point conversion came up short, and with 8 minutes to play, Darien had the 10-point lead.

Doll went to the air again and found Jake Wilson for a 20-yard touchdown to put the icing on the cake with 3:38 left to play, and Darien holding the 35-19 lead. Stevens missed the PAT, which has been a big question mark all season, but Jake had his 4th touchdown on the night.

Darien’s Jake Wilson catching a TD Pass vs. Fairfield Warde last year (photo courtesy of DAF)

Ludlowe struck again with Cooke to Field for a 10-yard touchdown, but with the missed two-point conversion, the 10-point game remained with under two minutes to play.

And with two minutes left Darien rushed the ball and moved into victory formation. Darien will continue their three-game win streak and advance to 4-2 on the season with the 35-25 win at Taft Field.

Darien riding the big performance from senior Jake Wilson with 149 rushing yards and another 20 on the receiving end, had four touchdowns for the Wave. Darien’s QB Simeon Doll came alive throwing for 233 yards, and the third game in a row, 200+ yards.

Darien now moves into 7th place in the CIAC Class L standings and will look to take on Greenwich on Saturday at the DHS Stadium Field in week 8. Fairfield Ludlowe falls back to .500 in this one and again was riding the tail of Aaron Field, who led the teams’ effort with 193 total purpose yards on the night.

Darien will celebrate victorious this weekend but return to work for the big game next week. Also, Saturday’s game will be the first time in 2022 that Darien gets senior receiver Liam McBride back, another weapon that Darien can look forward to using next week.

DARIEN 35,

FAIRFIELD LUDLOWE 25

DARIEN 15 7 7 6 —35

LUDLOWE 7 0 6 12 — 25

Scoring:

FL – Jackson Cooke 6 yard passing TD to Aaron Field (McNeil PAT good)

D – Simeon Doll pitch to Jake Wilson for 8 yard TD (Wilson Two point conversion)

D – Jake Wilson 4 yard rushing TD (Stevens PAT good)

D – Jake Wilson 15 yard rushing TD (Stevens PAT good)

D – Simeon Doll 11 yard passing TD to Brady Pokorny (Stevens PAT good)

FL – Jackson Cooke 2 yard rushing TD (Two point conversion failed)

FL – Aaron Field 2 yard rushing TD (Two point conversion failed)