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WILTON — The Staples football team had high expectations coming into the season, but were quickly given a reality check in the form of a loss on opening night to No. 2 ranked West Haven.

Over the next three games, Staples went 3-0, averaging 41 points in each of those wins. The Wreckers had to earn their latest win.

Staples took an early lead, fell behind in the third quarter and finally rallied in the fourth for a 29-22 FCIAC win over Wilton Saturday in a constant rain to move to 4-1.

Staples quarterback Caleb Smith ran 30 times for 113 yards and three touchdowns and threw the game-winner in the fourth quarter.

Smith said Staples was prepared to play in the rain and adjusted well to the wet conditions.

“We were expecting this kind of rain all week but the run kept working, so, we kept sticking with it,” Smith said. “The balls got really wet and it was hard to throw the ball. Our O-line played amazing, the best they ever played. They opened the holes for me to get through and I did what I could. I’m not sure we planned for that many carries but it was fun.”

The Wreckers are the No. 3 ranked team in the CIAC Class LL standings and ranked No. 6 in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll.

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Staples' schedule is no picnic the rest of the season.

The Wreckers will host Stamford Friday at 7 p.m. before a road trip to Danbury the following week. Staples then closes the season with three CIAC playoff teams from a season ago in Trumbull, St. Joseph and a Thanksgiving date with No. 1 ranked Greenwich.

Wilton coach EJ DiNunzio was not sure how his team would respond to its first big FCIAC test, but he felt his team handled themselves well and were in a position to win.

“That was a great FCIAC football game,” DiNunzio said. “I wasn’t sure how we would come out, but we came out how I thought we would. Go behind early but we fought back. I was a little disappointed we couldn’t play a little better defensively. These are the kind of games we have to win and we will get better from it.”

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Wilton (4-1) lost for the first time, but remained second in the CIAC Class MM standings after Saturday's results.

Wilton's three-game stretch against teams ranked in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Football poll continues at No. 7 New Canaan on Saturday at 2 p.m., then ends with a trip to No. 10 Darien the following week.

Wilton was in a similar situation last season, starting 5-0 before running into Darien, New Canaan and Ridgefield. Wilton lost all three games, but battled Darin in an 18-15 loss.

Wilton came back from that stretch and won its last two games to qualify for the Class MM playoffs as the No. 8 seed, then reached the semifinals where it lost 14-7 to eventual champion North Haven.

Staples led this game 14-0 with 6 minutes left in the first quarter after Smith ran in two 1-yard touchdowns, the second of which followed a botched snap by Wilton to give Staples the ball inside the 10-yard line.

Wilton came back with two touchdowns by Mac McGovern to cut the lead to 14-13.

Smith ran in from five yards out to make it 21-13 at the half.

Wilton took the lead in the third when it scored nine points on a Ryan Smith 11-yard touchdown catch from Joey Hagerty and a 30-yard field goal by Luke Ginsberg.

Staples then drove down the field in the fourth quarter and scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Sam Petrosino with 6:54 to play.

Wilton got the ball to more times but turned it over on downs and then had a pass picked off by Max Maurillo with 11 seconds to play.

Player of the Game

Caleb Smith, Staples: Though he was not able to throw the ball around like he usually does, Smith carried Staples with his legs, running 30 times for 113 yards and three scores.

Quotable

“When it is wet out it gets harder to throw he ball but the kids did a good job adapting. We were able to keep the ball on the ground and try to get different runs to different sides. The kids did a good job responding and getting out of their comfort zone a bit.” — Staples coach Adam Behrends.

Staples 29 Wilton 22

The Wilton football team is off to a 4-0 start and is on top of the CIAC Class MM standings.

However, the team is about to embark on the hardest part of their schedule with three-straight games against teams ranked in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Football poll in No. 6 Staples, No. 7 New Canaan and No. 10 Darien.

“The next three weeks are the gauntlet for us,” Wilton senior nose guard George Papakosmas said. “It will be three tough teams and three weeks of hard practices with lots of hitting. We think they are all beatable but we have to put in the work to beat them.”

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The gauntlet starts with a home game against 3-1 Staples Saturday at 2 p.m. Wilton will face New Canaan and Darien on the road.

“Even though the first four teams may not be as good as the next four we play, it got us going. We made a few mistakes but we can go and correct them so against Staples, we do it right,” Wilton coach EJ DiNunzio said. “What I am most worried about is the speed of the game compared to the last four weeks. The question is, 'can we cover?' Because we haven’t faced that caliber of receivers or quarterback, yet.”

Staples is led by senior quarterback Caleb Smith, who was named GameTimeCT/New Haven Register All-State Honorable Mention last season.

Wilton beat Class M runner-up Berlin on opening day and defeated 3-1 Platt three weeks ago but both of the Warriors FCIAC wins have come against Fairfield Warde and Norwalk which have one victory between them.

“We are now going from AAA baseball right to the major leagues,” DiNunzio said. “We played well against good teams in Berlin and Platt but it’s tough to give any sort of resemblance to a good FCIAC football team. We are winning games and playing well enough to beat most teams, but are we playing well enough to beat the likes of Staples, New Canaan and Darien? I don’t know yet. We will find out. I know they will play hard and be ready to play.”

Wilton was in a similar situation last season, starting 5-0 before running into Darien, New Canaan and Ridgefield. Wilton lost all three games but played Darien tight before falling 18-15.

Wilton came back from that stretch and won its last two games, qualifying for the Class MM playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

The Warriors defeated No. 1 seed SMSA before losing to eventual champion North Haven 14-7 in the semifinals.

Under DiNunzio, the Warriors beat New Canaan in 2021, their first win over the Rams since 1995.

The coach wants games like that to become the standard, not the exception.

“I know we are smaller and a MM school but we play the LLs and the Ls. We want our program at a point where we don’t just compete against them, but we beat them. We are getting there,” DiNunzio said. “It has to be more of a norm. It can’t be ‘oh wow, we beat New Canaan once in 30 years.’ When I took over, our goal was to be like a New Canaan, be like a Staples.”

Having the bye week fall immediately prior to the run of games against ranked teams is something the team hopes works to their advantage.

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“To have success the next few weeks we need to lock down the easy stuff and get our bread and butter done well” senior linebacker Todd Woodring said. “We have had good practices the last two weeks. It was a nice time to have our bye week ahead of our toughest three games. We had full practice every day, extra film sessions and even got a day off, which was nice for the guys.”

Quarterback Joey Haggerty, running back Mac McGovern and tight end Cael Dexter have provided the offensive punch, it is the defense which has carried the Warriors early on.

That defense is led by seniors Woodring, Papakosmas and defensive end Owen Theoharides.

Papakosmas said the team believes they can not only compete but win despite being a MM school facing LL and L powerhouses.

“We have the reputation of being a small quiet little team which is fine,” Papakosmas said. “But if we can go out and beat Staples, that will show everyone that we are not this quiet team, we are actually a team that can compete with and beat the best teams in the FCIAC.”

Rise Doughnuts in Wilton doesn’t have a gluten-free or vegan option. It’s not from lack of desire. Owners Hugh Mangum and Laura Malone simply haven’t found a recipe they love, and they won’t settle for ticking a box. In fact, aside from soft-serve ice cream, toasts and coffee, there are just six doughnuts on the menu: vanilla brown butter, cinnamon sugar, chocolate buttercream, a coffee-bun-style mashup of dough odds and ends that Rise calls misfits, plus a rotating selection of seasonal flavors, such as apple fritters or peanut butter cups for fall.

“This is not knocking anyone, I want to preface that, but we’re not the place that will put tons of Froot Loops or Skittles crunched up [on our doughnuts],” Mangum says. “If we’re going to do our take on a Reese’s peanut butter cup, we’re not going to crumble Reese’s peanut butter cups and put them on top, right? We’re going to do it from a very natural place.”

That simplicity and attention to detail is baked into Rise’s origin story. During the pandemic lockdown, the married couple’s sons wanted to make doughnuts. Their eldest had been keeping a sourdough starter, and so the family made sourdough doughnuts. Malone and Mangum thought they might have hit on something interesting with a version featuring a brown butter-and-vanilla glaze.

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They spent weeks refining their recipe. Not for business purposes, just because they made something delicious and thought they could make it even better. “It’s totally just for us, just for us for fun,” Malone says. “And then he’s like, ‘Maybe we should do a pop-up.’”

Mangum also launched his first food business, Mighty Quinn’s BBQ, with a pop-up. He was smoking meat and selling it at Smorgasburg food hall in Brooklyn, N.Y., and realized he had enough of a following to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village. That was in 2012. Today, Mighty Quinn’s has locations in Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and Dubai. Of course, in 2020, when Mangum and his family were perfecting their doughnuts, Mighty Quinn’s was pretty quiet.

So in June, the family created a makeshift doughnut bakery in Parlor Pizza in Wilton. “We had zero plan to make this a thing,” Mangum says. “It was more just, like, something to do when there was nothing to do.”

But that first pop-up changed their perspective. “Day one, it was insane,” Malone says. “I think because it was the middle of the pandemic, people were just eager to do something.”

They sold out quickly, and the pop-up became a weekly occurrence, quickly gaining attention not just from local doughnut enthusiasts, but also from outlets like Good Morning America. Malone and Mangum were motivated by something else they noticed, though. “At first, it was people coming for the doughnuts, but then everybody was coming for each other, too,” Malone says. “And friendships were developing in the line — this really cool, very unrelated-to-us thing was happening at the same time as the doughnuts were happening.”

That sense of community was part of their motivation to find a permanent storefront. They opened their shop at 28 Centre St. in Wilton in the summer of 2022, and these days they say they make about 5,000 doughnuts per week.

Rise continues to use sourdough starter. All doughnuts are made and proofed at night, and then fried fresh and served warm throughout the day. That means they sometimes run out. Mangum and Malone also say they won’t compromise on ingredient quality. All of these factors together mean that they charge $4 per doughnut.

“We’re just trying to do it our way,” Mangum says, “and serve it in an environment where you feel welcomed from top to bottom.”

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Rise Doughnuts 28 Center St., Wilton @risedoughnut on Instagram Open Tue.–Sun. 8 a.m. until they run out (usually 3 p.m.) Wheelchair accessible

This series of events will feature a unique format -- three exhibitions in one space. Vignettes: one venue; three exhibitions will combine celebrations of the noted wood sculptor, Dorothy Gill Barnes and famed weaver and surface designer, Glen Kaufman, with An Abundance of Objects, featuring baskets, ceramics and sculptures by more than three dozen international artists.

An Artist’s Reception and Opening will take place on Saturday, Oct 7th, from 11 am to 6 pm.

Exhibition Description(s):

Dorothy Gill Barnes: a Way With Wood will celebrate the work of the renowned sculptor, known for weaving bark, transforming natural materials, and for her collaborations with glass artists, resulting in objects that mix glass and bark and branches in intriguing ways. Among Barnes’ innovations were dendroglyphs, markings she’d make on live tree bark, which she allowed to develop into “scars” for months or years before har- vesting and using the resulting bark “drawings" in her works.

Glen Kaufman: Elegant Eloquence highlights the work of this master weaver who created photo collages, using a Japanese technique to apply gold and silver leaf atop intricately woven damask fabric, often in a grid, to reflect disappearing Japanese architecture. Also included are examples of Kaufman’s early work, which included both textural weaving and macramé-knotted and interlooped, hanging sculptural forms.

Personally selected items, like those in the third exhibition, An Abundance of Objects, contain meaning and memory, evoke feelings, and exert a palpable energy on one’s surroundings. An Abundance offers an eclectic and engaging collection of baskets, sculptures, and ceramics by more than three dozen artists from the US and abroad. Included will be work by Dail Behennah (UK), Hisako Sekijima (JP), Tim Johnson (UK), Polly Sutton (US), Stéphanie Jacques (BE), Judy Mulford (US), Gizella Warburton (UK), Mary Merkel-Hess (US), Simone Pheulpin (FR), Lawrence LaBianca (US), Lizzie Farey (UK), Joe Feddersen (US), Toshiko Takeazu (US), Gary Trentham (US), Nancy Koenigsberg (US); Markku Kosonen (FI), Tamiko Kawata (US), Christine Joy (US), Kosuge Kogetsu (JP), Rachel Max (UK), Kajiwara Aya (JP), Kyomi Iwata (US), Katherine Westphal (US), Paul Furneaux (UK), Dona Look (US), John McQueen (US), Jiro Yonezawa (JP), Gyöngy Laky (US), Noriko Takimaya (JP), Norma Minkowitz (US) Gertrud Hals (NO), Jeannet Leenderste (US), Naomi Kobayashi (JP), Karyl Sisson (US), Willa Rogers (NZ), Neil and Fran Prince (US), Merja Winqvist (FI), Jin-Sook So (KO), Lewis Knauss (US), Dawn Walden (US), and Keiji Nio (JP).

Details:

P: 203.834.0623

E: [email protected]

Each week the Wilton Town Clerk’s office releases data for the prior week’s real estate transactions. For the one-week period from August 25-31, 2023, Town Clerk Lori Kaback reported 15 residential properties transferred to new owners — a busy week leading up to the unofficial end of summer and the start of the new school year.

The transfers included 14 single-family homes and one Wilton Hills condominium.

Seven of the homes sold for more than $1.2 million, including five that sold for at least $1.385 million. Eight properties sold at prices ranging from $400,000 to $995,000. No properties changed hands between $1 million and $1.2 million.

No commercial properties changed hands during the one-week period.

Important: Please note the Town Clerk’s report contains limited information. For details, please read the document on file in the Wilton Town Clerk’s office. These land transfer reports are available on the town website.

GMW makes an effort to find current photos, from recent real estate listings, websites such as Zillow.com, or mapping services such as Google Maps. In some cases, photos may be from previous real estate listings, or from town appraisal/land records.

32 Village Court: Elizabeth Callahan to Kathleen Bristol Federico, for $800,000

610 Nod Hill Road: Nancy and Brendan Hanrahan to Patrick E. York, for $585,000

338 Nod Hill Road: Elizabeth M. and Andrew G. Brucker to Dennis and Christine Ann Lyons Holtzapffel, for $1,220,000

183 Westport Road: 183 Westport Road, LLC, to Rocco and Yau Dun Lee Cotoia, for $1,500,000

293 Sturges Ridge Road: Dmitri E. Ponomarev and Yanina Dusheyko to Mehdi Khoshgoftar and Solmaz Javanbakhti, for $1,385,000

24 Blueberry Hill Place: Susanne M. Allen (EST) to Dylan J.and Gillian L. Herbert, for $705,000

65 Saddle Ridge Road: Kiran and Ashwini Rathni to Daniell and Malgorzata Oliveira, for $1,520,000

73 Hillbrook Road: Suzanne L. Lucey to Giancarlo and Sarah LaGreca, for $995,000

19 Rockhouse Road: Morgan Walker (EST) to John Ryan Fitzpatrick and Lindsay Ann Morton, for $400,000 (photo not available)

55 Mountain Road: 55 Mountain Road, LLC, to Jeffrey Butler and Angela Chou, for $491,000

7 Wilton Hills: Lynn Schlesinger and Gregg Feldman to Joo Hyoung Park, for $1,235,000

20 Rockhouse Road: James R. Bernstein to David Wesley Nan III, Zoran Maric and Meagan Maric Nan, for $765,000

103 McFadden Drive: Jean B. Schlesinger to John A. and Zoe Reinman, for $700,000

573 Nod Hill Road: Jorge and Amy Valentin to Christine McGovern, for $1,795,000

43 Quail Ridge: Michael B. and Marie E. McCormick to Ronald B. Roberts Trust 2011, for $1,400,000