MERIDEN — Playing their home opener at Platt, the Wilcox/Kaynor Tech football team took on CTC kingpin Thames River on Saturday afternoon and the visiting Crusaders earned their first win of the year with a commanding 33-0 victory.
Both teams evened their records at 1-1.
Thames River got on the board early as senior quarterback Justin Outlow took it himself and rushed in for six. However, Wilcox/Kaynor blocked the extra-point attempt, keeping the score 6-0.
The Thames River defense stood tough, which allowed the offense to get back on the field quickly. Senior running back Jayden Millette added to the lead with a rushing touchdown to make it 12-0.
The Wilcox/Kaynor Tech special teams defense blocked the point-after attempt for the second time in a row, but the Wildcats had nothing going on offense and couldn't find an answer to the Thames River defense.
The Crusaders brought their offense back onto the field before halftime and scored another touchdown, this time through the air.
Learning from prior failures with the extra-point, the Crusaders instead went for the two-point conversion and succeeded to make it 20-0 at halftime.
The Crusaders ground game was lethal all afternoon. Sticking with what was working, Outlow pitched left to Millette, who rushed into the end zone untouched, increasing the lead to 27-0 with a made extra-point.
Wilcox/Kaynor Tech, meanwhile, fumbled away its opening possession of the second half on the very first play.
Thames River took advantage of the great field position with a score on another outside pitch to Millette.
Thames River completed the 33-0 shutout with an interception off of a deflected pass. Wilcox/Kaynor Tech was simply locked down the entire game.
“I’m going to change some positions,” Wildcats head coach Alonzo Relaford said. “Some guys were putting themselves out of position. It wasn’t too bad, but it was bad.”
Wilcox/Kaynor Tech, which was coming off a 7-6 victory over O’Brien Tech in its season opener, will look to regroup during an upcoming bye week and then bounce back against Cheney Tech on Saturday, Sept. 30 in a 4 p.m. game at Falcon Field.