In the spring, Danny Wallace helped Glastonbury make high school baseball history when the Guardians, the lowest seed in the Class LL tournament, advanced to the state championship game.
Wallace, who committed to play baseball at Fordham and also plays basketball, had never played football but decided he wanted to try the sport his senior year.
“Danny’s always been a multisport athlete,” Glastonbury football coach Eric Hennessy said. “He wanted to experience football, and Friday Night Lights and the crowd and I hope this encourages our other athletes, especially those that are focusing on one sport – ‘Hey, go play other sports because it’s actually going to make you a better athlete overall.
“I think he has a different appreciation for football now.”
With Glastonbury trailing Southington by a touchdown with 25 seconds left in Thursday’s game, quarterback Connor Finnerty found Wallace twice, for 28 yards, then 24 more, to put the ball on the Southington 1. With one second left, Dante Casdia scored and the extra point tied the game at 35. Glastonbury went on to win in overtime, 41-35.
“It was a total momentum swing,” Hennessy said. “We went into OT; our defense really played well in the second half. They gave up some big plays but that’s going to happen when you play great teams. They showed up in overtime and forced a fumble.”
Casdia scored the winning touchdown in overtime.
Hennessy wanted to use the moment to extol the benefits of being a multisport athlete.
“He came out and he’s just a natural,” Hennessy said. “People say, ‘I’ve never played football before’ – I say, ‘Can you dribble a basketball, can you hit a baseball, can you hit a golf ball – those are all athletic things that translate to football.’
“The contact thing is a little different but if you’re a good athlete, you’re going to be a good football player. He’s proven that. The day of the specialized athlete has really hurt high school sports in general. When I played, it was a sense of pride that I’m a good enough athlete that I can play three sports.”
Glastonbury (1-1) lost its first game 17-3 to Staples, ranked sixth in this week’s Courant football coaches Top 10 poll.
“It was disappointing, but we played a good football team,” Hennessy said.
Berlin off to a good start
Berlin (2-0) got a 38-20 win at Bloomfield Friday. “It was kind of a statement game for us,” coach John Capodice said. “Our first real competitive game on the road. We knew we were going to be in for a tough game at Bloomfield.” Quarterback Cody Puzio passed for 73 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 52 yards and two more touchdowns. Berlin broke open the game in the third quarter with a 29-yard field goal by Collin Sullivan, a 9-yard TD by Ryan Lavender and a 1-yard run by Puzio. Bloomfield is 0-2 after an opening week loss to Ansonia.
Montalvo reaches 3,000 yards
East Catholic senior WR Joey Montalvo became the fifth player in Connecticut high school football history to collect 3,000 receiving yards. Montalvo, who now has 3,025 yards, had four catches for 66 yards and one touchdown and nine carries for 57 yards and three rushing touchdowns Friday night in a 35-21 win over Bristol Eastern.
More Week 2 highlights
Conard’s Brady Cersosimo went 10 for 20 and had 227 passing yards and four touchdowns in a 42-37 win over Bristol Central Friday. … Nyqwan Jefferson had three touchdowns – a 73-yard punt return, a 72-yard kick return and a 37-yard fumble return in the CREC Colts’ 60-12 win over SMSA. … Tyler Napierkowski had 102 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown in Haddam-Killingworth’s 14-0 win over Stafford/East Windsor/Somers Friday night. H-K is 2-0.
Keith Schmidt had 10 tackles and quarterback Luca Houle completed 5 of 7 passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown in Rockville’s 48-0 win over Morgan Friday night. … Sawyer Pequita had four touchdowns – three rushing and one passing – and 110 rushing yards and 120 passing yards in Enfield’s 39-18 victory over Simsbury Friday night. … Jayce McDonald had three touchdown passes in Lewis Mills’ 42-6 win over RHAM.
Vincent Burbank had three touchdown passes and a 30-yard TD run and kicked three PATs for Northwest Catholic in its 31-6 victory over Farmington Friday. … Jake O’Brien completed 9 of 16 passes for 92 yards in Sheehan’s 45-0 loss to Fairfield Prep.
Games to watch
Haddam-Killingworth (2-0) at Weaver/Hartford Public/Classical (0-1), Friday, 6 p.m. at Weaver: The Weaver co-op lost a close one to North Branford in its opener 21-20.
Newington (2-0) at Enfield (2-0), Friday, 6 p.m.: Battle of unbeaten CCC teams.