By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

ANSONIA — Ansonia High School football went to 2-0 on the season after a 46-12 victory over the Gators of Gamble Montessori on Friday night. It was once again a night that showed off multiple skill players for the Tigers.

Ansonia got multiple scores from Garret Stammen and Exzaviar Moody, a 74-yard touchdown run from Keegen Weiss, and Trendon Spence went 40 yards for the Tiger’s final touchdown of the night.

The Tigers came out in the first quarter roaring. The first drive of the game saw Weiss pick up 22 yards on the kick-off return to give the Tigers great starting field position on their own 44. Moody immediately picked up 10 yards on his first carry and a couple of minutes into the game, the Tigers were in the Red Zone and ready to score. A one yard run from Stammen put the Tigers on top with 8:42 left in the first quarter. Moody walked in for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.

The Tigers were hunting Gators and were able to recover an onside kick. They took advantage of great field position and in less than two minutes, Stammen once again found the endzone on a 12 yard run. Ian Schmitmeyer and Weiss hooked up on a pass play to get the two point conversion and go up 16-0.

Ansonia was up by two touchdowns before the Gamble Montessori offense had run its first play.

The Gators were unable to get anything going and punted the ball back to Ansonia. The Tiger’s offense showed vulnerability and Moody fumbled on the Gator 27 and Gamble Montessori had the ball. On the first play from scrimmage, the Gators got a big play – a 73 yard touch down pass. The extra point was blocked, but the score was 16-6 with 2:35 left in the first quarter.

Ansonia’s next drive stalled and they were forced to punt. Unfortunately, it was a four yard punt and gave the Gators good field position on their own 45 yard line. As was the case most of the night, the Gamble Montessori’s drives were stopped by penalties. They had at least a half dozen delay of game calls, a couple of false starts and two face mask penalties.

Coach Adam Hall said, “We had a little struggle there in the first quarter and it was looking a little rough, but we got it under control. When we execute, good things happen.”

After a Gator punt, Ansonia was able to get its offense jump started once again. They drove the ball from their own 25 to the 16 yard line when Schmitmeyer handed off to Moody for his first touchdown of the night with 8:41 left in the half. Moody then walked in for the two point conversion and a 24-6 lead.

Ansonia went up 32-6 with a 74 yard run from Weiss with 5:08 left in the half. The two point conversion was good on another Weiss run.

The final score of the half came on a 13 yard run from Moody with 1:40 remaining. Weiss ran for the two point conversion. The score was 40-6 at the half.

With a running clock in the second half due to the lopsided score and Coach Hall putting his second and third strings in the game in the fourth quarter, Ansonia only added one more score. This time it was a 40 yard run from Trendon Spence to go up 46-6. The extra point was no good.

Deon Coulter added a 50 yard touchdown run for Gamble Montessori with 5:04 left in the third quarter. The extra point was no good. The score was 46-12.

That’s the way it would stay as Ansonia was able to run the clock out and hold the Gators to two possessions in the fourth quarter.

Coach Hall likes that his team started the season at 2-0, but realizes they have a lot of work to do before the conference schedule begins next week. “We’re always happy to be 2-0. We’ve got a lot of stuff to improve on. There are a lot of things that didn’t look as good as they could. We would rather improve after a win than after a loss.”

To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected]