NEW BRITAIN — Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with just under nine minutes left in regulation of its Class S semifinal game, the Northwest Catholic football team needed to come up with a play.
Senior quarterback Vincent Burbank had the answer — a double slant. His 1-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Knorr with 8:54 to go ignited a 21-point outburst by the sixth-seeded Lions, who defeated No. 7 Ansonia 21-0 on a cold Monday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Northwest Catholic (11-1) will play No. 5 Sheehan (10-2), a 41-20 winner over top-seeded and previously undefeated Woodland, in the Class S championship game Saturday at a time and place to be determined. Northwest Catholic will be playing in its second-ever state championship game. The Lions lost the 2009 Class S final 21-0 to Hyde Leadership.
The teams struggled through a scoreless first half.
The Chargers saw a promising opening drive stall after a holding call wiped out a 19-yard run to the Lion 1. Burbank had a long touchdown run called back due to a penalty, and he barely missed a 41-yard field goal as time expired to end the first half.
The third quarter was also scoreless.
Then, two incompletions and a 1-yard rush brought about the fourth-and-goal at the 1 with 8:59 left in the fourth quarter.
Northwest Catholic called timeout and went over strategy.
“The coaches were thinking about what to call, and Vinnie was the one who actually said ‘hey, why don’t we run double slants?’” Lions coach Mike Lenz said. “They were kind of over-undering No. 1 (senior Kayden Davis) for us, who is our all-state receiver, and No. 7 Patrick Knorr came open. It was actually a great call by Vinnie.”
Burbank fired a fastball to Knorr for the touchdown, then kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
“We got stopped on the sneak, so I just thought we could throw a nice quick ball,” Burbank said. “I threw to P-Knorr. He’s had great hands all year, and he’s been great.”
“That was huge, because it was so back and forth, so to break through was awesome,” Lenz said.
The Northwest Catholic defense forced a three-and-out on Ansonia’s possession following the game’s first touchdown.
The Chargers had gotten deep into Lion territory on their first possession before a holding call derailed the drive. After that, Northwest Catholic’s defense clamped down.
“This defensive group is really tight. Everybody on the defense, we work hard, we went through our plays really (well),” said Burbank, a defensive back. “Our defense has been great all year.”
A short punt and Ansonia personal foul gave Northwest Catholic the ball at the Charger 35. Two plays later, Burbank passed to Davis, who zig-zagged his way through the defense for a 29-yard touchdown. Burbank’s extra point gave the Lions a 14-0 lead with 6:38 left.
On the next Ansonia possession, Knorr picked off a Javier Figueroa and returned it to the Charger 13. The Lions got down to the 1 before Bryce Jones punched it in at the 4:49 mark.
“These guys really played hard, every single play, which was awesome,” Lenz said.
“We had a fire in our hearts for Ansonia,” Burbank said. “We wanted to beat them real bad, get to a state chip and win a state chip with this group, so it feels great.”
Ansonia finished its first season under coach John Mihalko at 8-4.
Player of the Game
Vincent Burbank, Northwest Catholic: The do-it-all senior threw two touchdown passes, made all three extra points he attempted and recovered a fumble.
Quotable
“We’ve been underdogs all four years of my high school career. Everybody’s said ‘Northwest isn’t that good, they don’t have a good history.’ We came in wanting to change that.” — Vincent Burbank on his team getting to the football program’s second-ever state championship game.
Northwest Catholic 21, Ansonia 0
ANSONIA 0 0 0 0 — 0NW CATHOLIC 0 0 0 21 — 21N—Patrick Knorr 1 pass from Vincent Burbank (Burbank kick)N—Kayden Davis 29 pass from Burbank (Burbank kick)N—Bryce Jones 1 run (Burbank kick)Records: Northwest Catholic 11-1, Ansonia 8-4.
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