Cheshire Rolls Over Hamden in Football Opener

Cheshire forced four turnovers and scored the first five touchdowns of the game on its way to dominating Hamden 46-18 in the Southern Connecticut Conference football opener for both teams at East Haven High School Friday night.

Hamden scored two of its three touchdowns in the fourth quarter against Cheshire's second string.

The Rams showed a very balanced attack, gaining 404 yards total offense — 230 passing and 174 rushing, while holding Hamden to 202 yards total offense, just 42 on the ground.

Cheshire running back Sam Pasquale gained 102 yards rushing on 19 carries and scored twice, a 3-yard run in the first quarter and a 7-yarder in the second. Wide receiver Sebastian Little accounted for 20 points with two touchdown catches, a 2-yard rushing touchdown and a two-point conversion on a rush. Little had four receptions for 74 yards.

"We're pleased," Cheshire head coach Mark Ecke said. "The defense did a good job. We gave up a score we didn't really need to. The offense was clicking early and the defense put us in good positions to get the ball down the field."

The Rams opened the scoring on their first position driving 73 yards on 11 plays with Pasquale's first TD the topper with 7:23 left in the first quarter. Pasquale carried six times on the drive for 35 yards.

An out pattern from quarterback Michael Ecke (14-for-26, 177 yards, three TDs, one interception) to Kevin Dietrich for 16 yards to bring the Rams to the Hamden 20 was a key play on the drive. Little ran for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.

"(Pasquale's) a heck of a player," Mark Ecke said. "We're excited about Sam. He's got great vision, makes great cuts and he's very strong. He doesn't go down with the first tackle."

Hamden quarterback Eli Bonadies (13-for-33, 149 yards, one TD, two interceptions) fumbled on the Green Dragons' next possession after taking a hard hit by Dylan Baumgartner. Matt Repetski recovered it on the Hamden 22.

Cheshire converted on its first play after the fumble with Ecke finding Little wide open in the middle of the end zone for a 22-yard TD pass and a 15-0 lead with 5:43 left in the first quarter.

"Sebbie's hands are unbelievable," Mark Ecke said. "Anything that's near him, he's going to catch. Michael John knows that so he gives Sebbie a lot of chances to catch the ball."

Cheshire scored again on a wide receiver screen from Ecke to Jake Scinto, who outran the defense 19 yards for a TD with 9:08 left in the half to make it 22-0. Cheshire got the ball back on Hamden's first play after the touchdown when Vincent Sansone made one of his two interceptions.

Cheshire returned the favor when Ecke was intercepted by Tim Dube (60 yards, seven carries) three plays later, but Sansone picked off his second pass on the Dragons' next possession leading to another Ecke-to-Little TD pass, this one for 21 yards and a 29-0 lead with 5:43 left in the half.

"(Sansone's) a returning starter and he's a heck of an athlete," Mark Ecke said. "He made great reads, he got to where he belonged and he went after the ball."

Pasquale's second TD capped the first-half scoring with 4:53 left, giving the Rams a 36-0 lead.

Cheshire's Kyle Pulek kicked a 26-yard field goal with 9:22 left in the third quarter, then Hamden finally scored with 6:03 left in the third on a pass from Bonadies to Derrick Atkinson for 17 yards that followed a the block of a Cheshire punt by Hamden's Mike Hopkins.

Although a Cheshire home game, it was played on a neutral field because the Rams' main football field is being resurfaced and will not be finished until at least mid-October. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday at Sheehan High School.

"You know what, we would much rather have been at Sheehan tonight," Mark Ecke said. "For whatever reason (Hamden) didn't want to play on Thursday night. In the end, it worked out for us. They did us a huge favor because the weather was much nicer and we should thank them for that."