Ansonia QB Bryson Cafaro (RA)
By KYLE BRENNAN
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
ANSONIA — It’s not usually a good idea to fire up the Ansonia High football team before a big game. Seymour found out the hard way Friday night.
The Chargers held Wildcats quarterback Jaylen Kelley to under 120 yards of total offense and Bryson Cafaro had a hand in five touchdowns as Ansonia routed Seymour, 41-20, before about 600 fans at Jarvis Stadium.
Earlier in the week, Kelley had said he was “not too worried about (Ansonia’s) defense.” The Chargers heard it loud and clear.
“They thought our defense was soft,” said Ansonia linebacker Malcolm Martin, who ran for a 72-yard touchdown on a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. “It wasn’t. You have to think about what you say before you talk. They had no faith in our defense, not knowing that’s what we’re good at.”
Seymour (5-2) threatened on its first drive, but turned over the ball on downs at the Ansonia 13. Kelley ran six times for 43 yards. He picked up only 16 yards rushing the rest of the night.
“We like to think we usually play pretty good defense,” said Ansonia coach Tom Brockett. “Sometimes other people have other opinions, that it’s a little easier to come up here, but I thought our kids played hard.”
Ansonia (7-0) capitalized on big plays and a few mistakes in the Seymour secondary to pull away. Cafaro’s 43-yard touchdown run opened the scoring, and later in the first period he recovered from a fumbled snap to scramble and throw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Markell Dobbs.
A 31-yard double-pass from Cafaro to Justin Lopez and Lopez to Dobbs made it a 21-0 Ansonia lead at the half. Cafaro hit Dobbs for a 17-yard touchdown on the first drive of the second half, and Cafaro ran in a 2-yard touchdown to make it a 35-6 blowout early in the fourth.