Jackets, shut out at home, go down to Warriors 31-0

WINSTED — Gilbert-Northwestern football head coach Scott Salius was aware his team would need to win two of its last three games to end the season with a winning record. Though he was quite vocal in motivating his players from the sidelines, the Yellowjackets couldn’t match the level of play the Valley Regional-Old Lyme Warriors brought to Van Why Field Sunday, Nov. 16.

With two games to go, the Jackets’ record has dipped below .500 to 4-5 with the 31-0 loss.

Gilbert-Northwestern appeared at first to have recovered from their previous loss in Avon as the defense halted the first few Valley Regional-Old Lyme drives. Neither team could move its offense early on and exchanged possession by punting back and forth.

Valley Regional-Old Lyme’s Nadrian Campbell found some room and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 49-yard run. The Warriors’ Jack Duggan put up the extra point and Gilbert-Northwestern trailed 7-0 early in the first.

The Warriors stopped the Jackets on their next possession. The Warriors then put together a series to place them within scoring range and Campbell brought in Valley Regional-Old Lyme’s second touchdown. Duggan was successful once more on the extra point attempt and the Warriors extended their lead 14-0 with only a few minutes left in the first.

Gilbert-Northwestern struggled to put points up before the second quarter but couldn’t work past Valley Regional’s defense and the Warriors took over on turnover on downs.

Starting the second with possession, Valley Regional-Old Lyme put themselves just a few yards from the Yellowjackets’ goal line but gave up a bad pass that was picked off by Devin Morgan and carried to the 50-yard line before being brought down.

The Yellowjackets utilized the momentum from Morgan’s interception to show some lively offense but still found themselves unable to score. Jay Farkas began to find some holes in the Warriors’ defense by driving hard up the middle, but Gilbert-Northwestern entered halftime down 14-0.

The Yellowjackets have shown they can come out of the halftime break and tighten their play, and did so early in the third quarter until a big sack on Gilbert-Northwestern quarterback Paul Kurtz.

Warriors quarterback Logan Whaley ran 40 yards for another Valley Regional-Old Lyme touchdown early in the quarter. Duggan’s extra point attempt failed, but the Warriors still pulled themselves further ahead, 20-0.

Gilbert-Northwestern found its offense immobilized and desperate. A fake punt attempt ended up incomplete and Valley Regional-Old Lyme took over once more in the Jackets’ end. Gilbert-Northwestern took a costly personal foul penalty that put the Warriors within a few yards of their goal line and Campbell didn’t hesitate to make his third touchdown rush of the game. Whaley ran in the conversion, putting the score at Valley Regional-Old Lyme 28, Gilbert-Northwestern 0.

The Yellowjackets put up a wall at the goal line to keep the Warriors from adding another six points, but Duggan came out and scored with a 24-yard field goal.

Gilbert-Northwestern’s Kurtz threw an interception that was carried deep into Gilbert-Northwestern’s end before being stopped. The Yellowjackets defense managed two sacks on Whaley, one by Josh Penn and the second by Kyle Jones.

With only a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Gilbert-Northwestern offense took the field once more to try to leave the game with something on the scoreboard. Kurtz threw a long pass that was caught by Gilbert-Northwestern’s Josh Silverio, but was short of the Warriors’ goal line. The Yellowjackets offense unfortunately ended on an down note, giving up another interception before time ran out with the final score at 31-0.

Gilbert-Northwestern’s next game is Saturday, Nov. 22, 1 p.m. at home against Canton (1-9).