Hillhouse defense turns tide in Connecticut football final

The Hillhouse (New Haven, Conn.) football team hadn’t played with enough heart in the first half of Saturday’s CIAC Class M final.

But a key defensive stop kick-started the Academics heart late in the third quarter. Hillhouse stopped Berlin on fourth-and-inches deep in the latter's territory.

The Academics went on to score 28 unanswered points in its 34-12 victory at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. It was the fourth CIAC state championship in 11 years for the Hillhouse (11-2) and its fifth overall.

The Academics hardly touched the ball in the first half because Berlin dominated the line of scrimmage and methodically moved downfield.

Berlin had a 21-play, 80-yard drive that gave it a 12-6 lead in the second quarter. It ran nine minutes, 51 seconds off the clock.

"You have to shorten the game," Berlin coach John Capodice said. "Anyone that knows anything about Hillhouse knows that the more you give them the ball, the more they have an opportunity to score. So we had to shorten the game. The kids did a terrific job with the scheme. I couldn't be proud of the kids."

Berlin ran 34 times for 142 yards in the first half. It also had 44 offensive plays.

"We just couldn't get off the field," Hillhouse senior Andre Anderson said. "We were just flat. We were playing with no energy."

Hillhouse had the ball for just five of the game's first 24 minutes. Berlin's strategy prevented them from using their superior speed.

"Our halftime adjustment," Hillhouse coach Tom Dyer said, "we didn't draw Xs (and Os) on the board. We put a heart on the board and said, ‘you have to play with heart.' That's the reason we were losing. We had no oomph. We had no passion."

Berlin had stuffed Hillhouse on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line early in the second half.

Minutes later, the Redcoats faced fourth-and-inches from their own 23-yard line. They still led by six points.

Capodice had his team go for it believing his team needed to take chances as the underdog.

"We as a team felt disrespected that they were going for it on fourth down," Anderson said.  "They were moving the ball, but we had the momentum kind of on fourth down and one. We though they should've punted. We took it personally."

Berlin ran a sweep. Hillhouse defensive back Harold Cooper tackled McLeod for no gain.

"It changed the game around," Cooper said.

Cooper scored on a 3-yard run six plays later to give his team its first lead, 13-12.

Hillhouse faced a fourth-and-18 at the Berlin 20 early in the fourth quarter and went for it. Anderson caught a backward pass from quarterback Je'Vaughn Moore on the left side of the field. He had a spectacular run, juking and outracing defenders as he raced to the opposite side of the field for a touchdown.

"I had to make a play for my team," Anderson said. "I felt like I wasn't doing nothing for my team on the offensive end."

Moore added a 62-yard touchdown run a few minutes later. Cooper scored on a 6-yard run in the final minute.

Berlin, after gaining 200 yards in the first half, had just 45 in the second half.

"The seniors got it going," Dyer said of the second half. "They pushed guys. I was really excited with the way they responded today."

Ned Griffen has covered high school, college and professional sports in the Northeast since 1992. A 2003 New England Associated Press News Executives award winner, he may be reached at nedgriffen@gmail.com