State football final notes: Cromwell on a roll; Hand looks for another title

CROMWELL – The Cromwell/Portland football team lost to Rockville in its fourth game of the season. Three weeks later, the Panthers lost to Granby/Canton.

Both were playoff teams; Rockville is in the Class M state final. But neither loss sat well with the Panthers, who started the season 3-0 and expected more even though it was a rebuilding year.

Cromwell/Portland didn’t lose another game the rest of the season and beat No. 1 seed and defending Class S champion Ansonia 28-0 at Ansonia in the Class S semifinal Sunday to advance to the final for the first time since 2021. Once again the Panthers will face Bloomfield (a team they beat in 2021, 21-6 for the championship) in the Class S championship game Saturday at Rentschler Field at 10:30 a.m.

“We had to get the younger players on the same accord as the older players,” Cromwell/Portland coach Randell Bennett said Tuesday at the state championship lunch at TPC River Highlands. “We’ve kind of been through it a few times. We understand what’s coming down the street. We started 4-0 before we lost to Rockville, then we had a bye week – the losses tell you a lot about yourself and how you come back from the loss – ‘Is it a flash in the pan?’

“Then you start winning again, we won two more games and you see the same behaviors creeping back in. Then we lose again. We’ve kind of been on a roll since. When you win a lot, a lot of distractions come with that. We’re trying to keep these guys focused on the goal.”

Senior Emeka Yearwood has led the way – he had a 64-yard touchdown run on the first play against Ansonia – and quarterback Jess Elfreich had two touchdown passes in the semifinal game.

“The first loss was a surprise,” Yearwood said. “Then we lose again and we start realizing, ‘Maybe we’re not as good as we think.’ So everyone really locked in.”

Meanwhile, Bloomfield is in its fifth straight Class S championship game, winning its last title in 2018.

“The game could go either way – both teams want to win, we understand that,” Bloomfield coach Ty Outlaw said. “Right now, it’s who wants it more and we definitely want it.”

Hand looking for its 14th title

Hand, the top seed in Class M, has won 11 straight. The Tigers, which have won 13 state titles, will face No. 2 Rockville on Saturday at 1:45 p.m. at CCSU’s Arute Field.

“This was the goal,” Hand senior running back Aidan Dolan said. “Ever since preseason. We had confidence. Especially after beating [Fairfield] Prep, we knew we could go all the way.”

That was the second game of the season. Hand dropped its opener to Bunnell, 28-21, then beat Fairfield Prep, 35-34.

Dolan broke the school’s single season rushing record (1,755) in the semifinal win over ATI Tuesday, eclipsing Dan Anderson’s 1997 record of 1,672.

“I haven’t really thought about it yet,” Dolan said. “It’s going to be awesome after the season to talk about it but right now we’re so focused on Rockville. Those things aren’t too important.”

Keys against Rockville?

“We got to wear them down,” Dolan said. “We’re a big second-half team, we’re well-conditioned. That’s what we do, we go after teams in the second half when they get tired and then we keep punishing them.”

Rockville is mentally tougher

It’s Rockville’s first championship appearance since the Rams lost the Class M final 28-14 to Killingly in 2021.

Coach Erick Knickerbocker said the team owes some of its success this season, especially its last two wins, both 14-13 victories in the state playoffs, to help from sports psychologist Matt Woodke.

“It’s grown over the last couple years,” Knickerbocker said. “This year, we’ve been doing weekly mental health or mental skills, mental focusing techniques and tactics and how it goes into football.

“It’s kind of been our calling card. In the playoffs, it’s so important. We’ve looked at a couple of our playoff losses early on and we didn’t have any of those mental skills. One thing goes wrong and it all snowballs. That Berlin (quarterfinal) game was a perfect example. We’re up 14-0 now it’s 14-7, now it’s 14-13.

“Our kids could have stood there and let them kick an extra point, but I have our best players Lexington (Hunter), Amir (Knighton), Garrett (Paul), giving you every single bit of effort to block that kick and we block it. They weren’t upset about, ‘Oh, we gave up a touchdown.’ Then the onside kick, we got Cale Wilson knocking it out of bounds, just being focused in the moment, all these little details and that’s all the stuff Matt’s worked with our guys – being able to be present. Even as a coach, bad things happen in a game, it’s hard to be present about what’s going to happen next.”