John Nash 1 September 2010 Football 519 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Wilton defensive back Sean Osgood dives unsuccessfully for a tipped ball during Wednesday's controlled scrimmage against Weston. (Photo by John Nash/Wilton Villager)

After a week of just seeing each other on the other side of the line of scrimmage, the Wilton football team finally got to get out on the field and hit somebody else for a change.

And boy did Bruce Cunningham’s kids spank Weston in big-time fashion during Wednesday’s over-heated controlled scrimmage at Weston High School’s football field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Warriors got plenty out of the scrimmage including a confidence boost heading into Saturday’s Wilton Jamboree.

A year ago, it was Weston that slapped Wilton silly and this year the Warriors returned the favor.

“It was good, it was good,” Cunningham said after the bus returned to WHS. “They knocked us around last year, but this year was different.”

While the team had plenty of success — including two touchdown by Clay Helms (one rushing, one receiving) and three touchdown passes by Sean Carroll (one to Matt Reyes-Guerra-Dunn, one to Mike DiPilato, one to Helms) — Cunningham also saw enough mistakes to keep the team busy over the next 12 days until its opener against Trumbull.

The scrimmage also featured a nice by the Warriors new fullback — junior Connor Buhler, who last year was a lineman who was listed as 6-feet, 200 pounds.

If William Perry of the Chicago Bears fame was known as “The Refrigerator” then Buhler could be known as “Dorm-Room Refrigerator” by the time he’s done because he was just bowling people over when he touched the ball.

Other interesting asides was that Cunningham has moved senior captain Ryan Phillips to the center position on offense and Robbie Keers, despite a number of technical mistakes at the defensive end position, was still athletic enough to overcome his mistakes and make some tackles for losses.

Travis Stella, Marco Piedmont and Alex Ward also eached show flashes of strong play to this set of eyes.

Granted, it was only a controlled scrimmage, but the way the Warriors played — especially one day after what was reportedly a bad practice — was a good unofficial start to a season where hope and desire push forward like a lineman wanting more.