Blue Knights Muscle Way To Win Over Platt
- Dan Fappiano
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Southington football began a stretch of four straight home games to end their regular season with a matchup against Platt. The Blue Knights made the most of their homecoming, earning a 48-14 victory and moving to 4-3 on the year.
“We executed,” head coach Rob Levesque said. “It’s scary how well we can play when we can manage both sides of the ball. Special teams was clicking too. It was a team effort execution-wise.”
The Blue Knights opened the scoring at 8:41 in the first quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run from senior Lonnie Green. He had caught a 48-yard pass previously on the drive. With the extra point blocked, Southington led 6-0.
But Green wasn’t done. He ran in his second touchdown from five yards out with 2:20 left in the first. The Blue Knights missed the extra point, but still held a 12-0 lead after the quarter.
Platt threw their first punch of the evening with 10:30 left in the second quarter. After converting on fourth-and-seven, the Panthers scored via a two-yard touchdown run. The extra point was good and the Blue Knights’ lead shrank to 12-7.
When it came time to respond, Southington didn’t hesitate. After a 30-yard strike to Green, sophomore quarterback Jacoby Roman found junior Walker Mierzejewski for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Green’s successful two-point conversion run gave the Blue Knights a 20-7 lead.
Senior Austin Sirois ensured that Southington kept the momentum. He gave the Blue Knights possession once again on an interception with 6:41 left in the half.
Roman got to work, finding junior Leif Rehehan for a 26-yard grab. With 4:06 remaining, junior Thomas Carr caught Roman’s second touchdown pass, going 22 yards. The two-point conversion was no good, but Southington went into the break with a 26-7 lead.
Coming out of halftime, the Blue Knights kept their foot on the gas. On their very first play of the third quarter, Roman threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Mierzejewski. The quarterback then converted a two-point attempt, giving Southington a 34-7 advantage.
Platt didn’t throw in the towel just yet. After an interception was overturned by defensive pass interference, the Panthers ran in a two-yard touchdown. The extra point made it 34-14.
Southington responded immediately, recovering Platt’s onside kick attempt. After Roman hit senior Jaxiel Rivera for an 18-yard reception, he found Carr for a nine-yard touchdown. Sophomore Sawyer Trudeau’s extra point gave the Blue Knights a 41-14 lead entering the fourth.
Southington junior Maxwell Simms started the quarter with an interception. Then, the Blue Knights fumbled on their next possession. Stout defense earned Southington the ball back, after which sophomore Benjamin Beaulieu broke off a 52-yard run.
The Blue Knights didn’t score on that drive, but they had one touchdown left in them. With 3:13 remaining in the game, sophomore John-Michael Speight returned a punt 29 yards for a score. Trudeau’s extra point made it 48-14 and sealed the victory for Southington.
After catching a pair of touchdown passes and seeing his team earn a 34-point victory, Mierzejewski had two words to describe Southington’s win.
“Dominance, execution,” Mierzejewski said. “It was a great performance from us today.”
Southington Makes Big Offensive Strides
In the win, Mierzejewski led the way with four receptions for 109 yards while Green rushed for 53 yards on 13 carries. At quarterback, Roman completed 21-of-26 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns. After throwing for three scores in the previous game against Manchester, he was excited to pick up from there. But Roman was more concerned with getting all of his offensive weapons involved.
“Everybody was getting some love today with the ball,” Roman said. “We got to get the ball to everybody more. We pass the ball a bit, but everybody has to get some love.”
Levesque has been impressed with his quarterback’s strides. The sophomore was thrown into the starting role after an injury to senior Luke Prozzo. Levesque sees Roman becoming more poised with every rep he gets.
“He has gotten more patient,” Levesque said of Roman. “He’s keeping his eyes downfield, taking the coaching. But as much as you want to prepare for games, there’s nothing like Friday night and live game reps. He’s been getting those reps. We’re preaching to everybody to get better every week. He’s handling that.”
Roman’s 58-yard touchdown pass to Mierzejewski especially stood out. While it was the first play of the third quarter, Southington didn’t draw it up during halftime. Instead, the quarterback was able to read the coverage pre-snap. After seeing his opportunity, Roman struck.
“That’s part of our offense, to stretch it,” Levesque said. “It was an opportunity and coverage we saw a couple times. Jacoby took that one. That’s the maturity of his pre-snap reads, trusting his receivers and putting the ball there.”
When he drops back to pass, the sophomore quarterback has plenty of playmakers to target. Among them is Carr, who as Levesque notes the coaching staff has been trying to work more into the gameplan. Carr called the Platt matchup, “a big chance,” for himself. The junior will look to get more acclimated to the offense as the year progresses.
Levesque and company took a long look at things during the bye week. The Blue Knights knew the talent they had on offense. The key for Southington was figuring out their optimal rotation.
“We spread the wealth, we’ve got a lot of skill guys. Second half of the season, what do we want to roll out on offense?,” Levesque asked. “We’re doing some self scouting. That’s another area of growth for Jacoby, finding other guys and not just the go-to guy we relied on in the early part of the season.”
Blue Knights Gear Up For Windsor Battle
With two straight wins under their belt, Southington will next take on Windsor at home on November 7. The Blue Knights know it will be a difficult challenge, as the Warriors are 6-0 on the season. Mierzejewski said it will take efficient practices and the same attitude they had against Platt to come away with a win. As his role in the offense increases, Carr echoed those thoughts.
“Dominance,” Carr said. “Every week in practice, got to give it your all out here. I do, and I know these guys do. They have faith in me to catch the ball and run after the catch and make plays.”
Working in Southington’s favor is their growing effort on pass defense. Alongside their two interceptions, the Blue Knights held Platt to just 104 total passing yards. Like the offense, Levesque and company are moving some players around on defense. But whoever is called on has to execute.
“This is a team that throws the ball around a lot,” Levesque said. “They run well too. We’ve been struggling in the secondary, so we’re challenging them to challenge themselves and execute the gameplan. Trust the process,” Levesque said. “We’re young on defense, we didn’t return many players. Trying to find kids in the right spot, we’re shuffling things around. We took a hard look in the bye week. We’re finding the best place to put kids.”
Their pass defense will be crucial against Windsor, as Warriors quarterback Anthony Robinson has thrown for 1,838 yards, 21 touchdowns and just one interception on the season. As the Blue Knights prepare, Levesque is sticking with his tried and true mantra: if Southington focuses solely on the task in front of them, they’ll have a much greater chance of success.
“1-0 every week, sticking with it,” Levesque said. “They’re a very good team, they need to be respected. They’re throwing the ball all over the place and we need to be on point.”
