When New Canaan High School’s offensive linemen bent down to place their hands in the dirt for the final time last weekend, the center reached down to grasp the worn-out football, and the quarterback prepared to take the final snap of his high school career, everybody in the stadium knew that the Rams had done it.
Quarterback and senior co-captain Ty Groff snapped the ball on the cold Saturday afternoon of Dec. 10, placed his knee on the ground, and the celebration began.
“There was no team that deserved it more than us,” Groff said following New Canaan’s 16-13 victory over the Maloney Spartans. “I could not be more proud of every single player on the team, as everyone always put their best foot forward and helped us get better.”
New Canaan’s coaching staff, led by legendary Head Coach Lou Marinelli, could finally breathe a sigh of relief and move past last year’s deflating loss to Darien in the state semifinals. New Canaan had won their 13th CIAC championship.
The game began as a defensive battle, with New Canaan taking a 6-0 lead behind a pair of field goals from star kicker and quarterback Ty Groff. However, Maloney returned a kickoff 95 yards for a 7-6 lead, then followed that up with another touchdown, this one via the air, and had a 13-6 lead heading into the 4th quarter.
It seemed the Rams’ miraculous season was coming to an end, that they were all out of gas.
Then a switch flipped.
As he has all season, senior running back Hunter Telesco kickstarted a fight in his teammates and punched it in for six on the ground.
