Warde Wins Thanksgiving Game, 21-12

The following story appeared in The Connecticut Post on Friday morning, November 23, 2006. Here is the Thanksgiving Day game summary of the Warde victory over Ludlowe at Tetreau-Davis Field, 21-12.

With the wind whipping and a cold rain falling, the walk from Tetreau-Davis Field back to the Fairfield Warde locker room could have been a pretty miserable one for the Mustang players.

But with the Gallagher-Banyas trophy safely secured in their mitts following a 21-12 win over cross-town rival Fairfield Ludlowe on Thursday morning, seniors Michael Primsky and Jamie Kristy nearly skipped the 200-or-so yards to the warmth of indoors.

"Our seniors have persevered through a lot," Warde coach Tony Catapano said. "It's good for them to get rewarded."

It was another senior — tailback Silus Shelly — that enabled the Mustangs to even the newly revived Fairfield rivalry at one game apiece.

Shelly ran for 71 yards on 14 carries, scoring three times to lift Warde to a second-half comeback in front of roughly 250 water-logged fans.

"Oh man, I'm almost in tears," said Shelly, who earned MVP honors for Warde. "I just go out there trying to help my team however I can." Warde also forced five turnovers and held Ludlowe to minus-14 yards in the second half.

Using a bruising, three-back offense, Warde (2-8) jumped out to an early 8-0 in the first quarter with Shelly scampering in from 13 yards out on the Mustangs' first drive.

Later Warde picked up a safety when Ludlowe senior quarterback Matt Deliberti was flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone.

But after the miscue Deliberti — teamed with his younger brother, Mike — led the Falcons (1-9) to a 12-8 halftime lead. Ludlowe got on the board midway through the second quarter on a drive aided by a pair of 15-yard penalties. Matt Deliberti hooked up with his brother Mike from 18 yards out to make it 8-6.

Matt Deliberti then put his team ahead with a 1-yard plunge on a 10-play drive, highlighted by a 28-yard pass to Mike Deliberti on a ball that was tipped by a pair of Warde defenders.

However the second half was a different story for Ludlowe, which couldn't get anything going as the Falcons had trouble holding onto the ball throughout the half.

A muffed snap by Ludlowe on a punt from midfield, recoverd by Kristy, set up the eventual winning score midway through the third. Taking over at the Ludlowe 33, Warde quarterback Ralph Fidaleo hit Primsky for 19 yards to convert a third down, which set up Shelly's second score of the game.

From there the teams traded punts with Shelly going in from four yards shortly into the fourth quarter to end the scoring. Ludlowe turned it over three times in the fourth, including Genero Montefuscoli's recovery of a fumbled snap, and an interception by Kristy that ended the game.

"Once I saw it pop out I got on top of it, like a pig rolling in the dirt," Montefuscoli said. Matt Tierno added an interception for Ludlowe late in the fourth.

"Our mistakes killed us," said Matt Deliberti, who finished 7 for 17 for 85 yards passing and 52 rushing, earning Ludlowe MVP honors. "Obviously it's not the way you want to go out."

Photos courtesy of Tim Parry, author of fciacfootball.blogspot.com.