WEST HAVEN - One of the great Cheshire football traditions is the way the team lingers on the field with friends and family after games.

Another great Cheshire tradition is winning state championships.

On Sunday afternoon, the Rams married the two up for the seventh time overall and the first time in 12 years by beating the state's No. 1 ranked team, Staples of Westport, 28-21 in overtime in an epic CIAC Class LL final at a jam-packed Ken Strong Stadium.

Junior Mike Skibicki, on his lone carry of the day, plowed home from two yards out on the opening possession of overtime and senior lineman Luke Scinto brought true sudden death and delirium to a day of dramatic momentum swings by forcing and recovering a fumble on Westport's bid to answer.

"I just tried to rip it out," said Scinto breathless from exertion and joy as a post-game tumult of Cheshire red and black gathered roaring force around him. "And I got it out and I saw the ball and I pounced on it and - oh my God, I can't even describe the feeling."

"Unbelievable, awesome, wonderful" and "complete joy" were all in circulation as the 11-1 Rams hugged and hollered and posed for team photographs in front of a Strong Stadium scoreboard whose neon red lights were silent, but emphatic in the cold December twilight:

Staples      Cheshire

21 28

"Relief" would be a fitting description, too. Staples, staggered since Cheshire forced two turnovers and scored three touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half to take a 21-7 lead, came off the mat to score two touchdowns in the final 4:44 of regulation to force overtime.

The Wreckers, the state's last standing undefeated team at 12-0, the No. 1 ranking in their grasp, had all the momentum going into OT. The FCIAC champs even won the coin toss and took the coveted defensive choice to open the extra session, where teams get four downs to score from the 10.

Continuing late-game dominance along the line of scrimmage, Staples dropped Cheshire quarterback Greg Palmer for a loss on the first play. But Palmer rebounded with a 10-yard swing pass to senior running back Dan Sweeney. Skibicki, lead man in Cheshire's triple-option goal line backfield, took it the last two crowded yards up the gut and Kyle Pulek drilled the critical extra point.

"I was just waiting," Skibicki said of his lone carry, "and that was my time."

Then it was up to the defense, which had been solid until yielding those two late Staples' scores.

"Turn the ball over, you win the game," head coach Mark Ecke told the unit as it took the field.

Two plays later, with Staples at the 6, Scinto made the game-ending play on Westport star running back Matt Kelly.

"Luke Scinto is going to take that with him the rest of his life," said Ecke. "He made a play to end the season his senior year with the Double-L championship. What is better than that? I couldn't be happier for these seniors and the way they played tonight."

Ecke was aboard for the state-record six straight championships Cheshire won from 1992-1997, the last three as head coach. This was the first Cheshire title ever decided in overtime and the first for any Connecticut football championship since Newtown and Sacred Heart both went an extra time to win crowns in 1990.

For the Rams, winning in overtime chased the dread spawned from the Westport rally, not to mention the memory of last year's Class LL title loss to Glastonbury.

"We all knew we had to win this game," said senior Brian Havlicek. "We weren't going to go out with a loss. We just couldn't have it happen two years in row."

Havlicek scored Cheshire's first touchdown with 5:06 to play in the opening half on an 8-yard pass from Palmer. The strike was set up by linebacker Craig Thorne's fumble recovery on a quarterback sack at the Staples 15.

The Cheshire defense, solidifying after yielding a 66-yard Staples scoring drive that ate up the first 8:32 of the game, made another stop and the Rams got the ball back at midfield. Palmer busted loose for a 37-yard gain, handed off to Sweeney for 8 yards, then took it himself the final 10 yards with 51 seconds left.

A 14-7 Cheshire lead at the break looked pretty good, considering the Rams hadn't done much on offense. But the pendulum was still swinging Cheshire's way. Havlicek, at safety, read a quick out pass on Staples' next possession, picked it off and returned it down the far sideline to the Staples 6. Palmer followed left guard Izear Hogan into the end zone on the next play for a 21-7 lead.

And that's where it stood through the third quarter, as the Cheshire defense made three straight 3-and-out stops, but the Cheshire offense couldn't capitalize on good field position to land a put-away blow. A diving, one-handed interception by Staples defensive back Tyler Jacobs on the opening play of the fourth quarter prevented the Rams from extending their lead to three scores.

It also reversed the tide. Staples, after initially being stopped after the Jacobs interception, got the ball back with 7:55 to play and marched 68 yards, mostly through the air, with QB Keith Gelman's 16-yard pass to his favorite target, Brendan Rankowitz, getting the Wreckers into the end zone with 4:44 left.

The sun, which had shone most of the afternoon, was going down by then, and it seemed to be going down on the Rams, who went a meek 3-and-out and punted the ball away. Gelman, in a groove, needed three pass plays to get Staples from its own 34 to the Cheshire 1, where he went over center to tie the game with 1:44 to play.

The Staples defense made another quick stop. Burning time outs, the Wreckers still had half a minute on the clock, but Pulek got off a good punt that bounced over the return man's head. Pinned on their own 25, the Wreckers settled for OT.

If there were doubts along the Cheshire sideline as that extra session began, they were left unspoken.

"I was worried, but we've been in this situation plenty of times and I knew we could stay together and fight as a team and do what we've got to do," said Cheshire center/defensive lineman Connor Hepler.

"They made a lot of defensive adjustments coming out of halftime and they shut us down," said Palmer. "But we knew if that we continued to do what we were doing in the first half that it would work out."

And it did. Cheshire mustered just enough offense to win a game that was ruled by defense.

Both teams came into the game with gaudy offensive numbers, particularly on the ground. But Cheshire was held to 182 total yards while the Rams, continuing their late-season excellence, snuffed the Staples option, holding the Wreckers to 49 yards on 36 carries.

Scinto, Hepler and Steve Sutherland were solid along the line. Sweeney, Thorne, Evan Gaudio and the linebackers pursued with a fury.

"The thing with our defense is we never get rattled," said Thorne. "We knew coming into this game they were going to make big plays. They have tremendous athletes, good players. We knew if we played our assignment football, we could get the job done, and we did."

Westport coach Marce Petroccio, heartbroken for his team, acknowledged Cheshire's accomplishment during the trophy presentation.

"You've got give Cheshire all the credit in the world. They played their tails off; they played hard," he later added. "I'm still proud of what my kids accomplished. There will be some sad faces in that locker room, but in the end you have to give them all the credit. They won it."

And the Rams sure did savor it. The traditional post-game fraternizing on the field went on considerably longer this time around.

"I want them to soak up this moment," said Ecke. "This is a great thing for them."

View more photos from the Cheshire-Staples game.