Sacred Heart-Kaynor Tech’s Tyler Rudolph (1) carries the ball during a game against Holy Cross last Friday at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.
Jim Shannon Republican American
BY MARK JAFFEE
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — When the Sacred Heart-Kaynor Tech football team left Municipal Stadium’s Ray Snyder Sr. Field last Friday, it felt pretty good.
“When the game was finally over, I had the biggest smile on my face,” said Hearts senior running back and linebacker Joel Guzman.
Not only did the Hearts snap a 22-year losing streak to crosstown rival Holy Cross with a 37-32 win, they moved over .500 for the first time since the 2010 season. That year, they finished at 6-4, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Class SS playoff with quarterback Rohan Ifill, now a volunteer assistant coach, calling the signals.
The 4-3 record also signifies only the second time since the 1994 season that the Hearts had at least four wins — 4-6 in 1994 and 4-5 in 2011. The last three seasons, the Hearts went 0-11 in 2013, 0-10 in 2014 and 1-9 in 2015 with the lone win a 48-26 win over Wilby on Thanksgiving eve in the Fred O’Brien-Frank Granato Bowl. That snapped a 35-game losing skid.
Now the Hearts (4-3) have their sights set on the remaining games, beginning Friday against Kennedy (3-4) at Municipal Stadium at 7 p.m. The Hearts wrap up with Crosby (2-5) and Wilby (0-7) on Thanksgiving eve.
“Our goal is to try to finish strong,” said the Hearts’ senior two-way lineman, Anthony Bonicki. “We hope to win out.”
“We can’t be satisfied with a .500 record this season,” added Guzman. “Beating Holy Cross gave us a lot of confidence. What we learned is that we have to play through any adversity that comes our way.”
A week earlier, the Hearts dropped a 72-70 decision to Waterbury Career Academy, marking the second-highest single-game point total in state history.
“That loss to Career really opened our eyes,” said Guzman. “Losing such a close game was hard, especially since we had a few leads in the game. But we learned from it.”
“That was a heartbreaking loss,” added Bonicki, “but we had to get over it. We had a bye week and that helped out in getting us refocused. We had to prepare for Holy Cross.”
Tyler Rudolph scored touchdowns on runs of 75, 10 and 64 yards and Guzman also had a rushing TD. Quarterback Trey Dawson also connected on a 5-yard TD pass to Courie Stevenson.
Bonicki said the improved offensive line this season has helped Dawson as well as the back field duo of Guzman and Tiron Ferris.
The Hearts’ offensive line consists of Bonicki at left tackle, left guard Rob Guerin, center Sydney Asiedu, right guard Richard Barrett and right tackle James Velez. Senior Lou Craig fills in at either tackle position. Guerin, Asiedu, Barrett and Velez all attend Kaynor Tech.
“Over the past year, we have gotten stronger and a lot better from the past few seasons,” said Bonicki. “That has made a big difference with our success.”
The Hearts also changed their mindset, according to Guzman.
“We all got more focused and committed as a team,” said Guzman. “We went to summer camps and did things as a group. Things started to really click.”