Yellowjackets football triumphant at home opener

WINSTED — Under the lights for their home opener on Friday, Sept. 16, the Gilbert School and Northwestern Regional High School combined varsity football team (2-0) took the field looking tentative and jittery against undermanned Canton (0-2) on Friday, Sept. 16.

As soon as the nerves wore off, the Yellowjackets were rolling.

A slow first half opened up into a rout as the Yellowjackets rode an electrifying night by junior tailback Billy Komons to a 55-6 steamrolling of the Warriors, while their new-look defense held Canton to under 40 yards on the ground.

While there will certainly be adjustments and mistakes for head coach Scott Salius and his staff to look over going into a matchup with Nonnewaug this Saturday, Komons’ night, where he accounted for a staggering 282 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, while also tallying three tackles on defense, is something the Yellowjackets will hope to see on a weekly basis.

“I think [Komons] somehow, in my mind, almost skipped his junior year,” said Salius. “He went from a newbie sophomore last year kind of getting varsity experience to what seems like a seasoned vet and a leader out there.”

With 250 rushing yards through two games, Komons looks to be the featured back in a Yellowjacket rotation boasting a bevy of talented runners.

The Yellowjackets had four players gain at least 30 yards on the ground against the Warriors.

When the Yellowjackets were off, however, they looked like a different team. Fumbled snaps, blown coverages and poor blocking all led to the Warriors taking a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.

“I think there was a little bit of excitement going on,” said Salius. “It was a Friday night game, which we normally don’t have. We looked at it on film, and [Lissy] was pulling out from the center a little bit early, which happens when you get excited. That’s just the nature of high school kids.”

The defense, for its part, stiffened in the red zone in the opening quarter, as the Yellowjacket’s front seven controlled the line of scrimmage against Canton’s star fullback Braedon Bean, limiting his space and wrapping up on tackles.

Junior defensive back Chris Nanni ended an early threat, as the Warrior’s drove inside the 10, snatching a beautiful interception right on the goal line, on an underthrown ball by Canton quarterback Alexander Higley.

“We adjust to the team,” said senior lineman Colby Stone, who anchors the center of the Yellowjackets’ new 4-3 defense, “We identify their key players, their threat players, and we adjust to the team.”

Stone said the Yellowjackets’ defense keyed off of Bean, and the game plan was to contain both him and Higley.

“I think the main strength our defense has is its versatility,” said Stone. “It’s not that we have the same defense and we apply it to every single team ubiquitously. We attack each team individually.”

The Warriors only touchdown came on a fourth-and-15 early in the second quarter, a long pass from Higley to sophomore Dugan Loyd that Salius said he thought his team defended well.

“It was one of those ones where we did everything right, but they just did everything a little bit better,” Salius said.

Giving up the score seemed almost to galvanize the Yellowjackets. If nothing else, it gave Komons a chance with the ball in his hands in the open field, which was an ideal scenario for the Yellowjackets.

Slicing across the field and spinning past tacklers, Komons took the subsequent kickoff all the way down to the Warriors 28-yard line, stealing any momentum and firing up the Yellowjackets faithful. Two plays later, junior EJ Claman punched it in, and the Yellowjackets never looked back.

Komons scored on a dive with 1:16 in the half to put Yellowjackets up 14-6 at the break. But his signature moment came right after play resumed, in the opening moments of the third.

A penalty and another nice return gave the Yellowjackets good field position at their own 46. On the first play from scrimmage, Komons took the pitch heading left, and came up against a wall of Canton defenders.

“What happened was, someone whiffed a block,” said Komons, “So I had to cut it back. Right when I saw that first whiff, I was like, ‘Oh, here we go.’ Got out of that, kept going, just turned … just kind of got out there and started doing my thing.”

Reversing field, running horizontally almost sideline to sideline Komons danced away from an onrush of tacklers in the backfield to turn the corner, streaking upfield to pull a 50-yard gain out of what should have been a loss for the Yellowjackets.

Senior Jake Roth finished off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown for the 21-6 lead, and the rout was on.