Ryan Love threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns and Ludlowe’s defense delivered a shutout, leading the Falcons to a 15-0 victory over Darien on Friday night. This was Ludlowe’s first win against Darien since the Fairfield high schools split in 2003, ending a 0-10 streak.
The game unfolded at Darien’s home field, a place filled with memories for Ludlowe coach Mitch Ross, who served as a Darien assistant from 2003 to 2016. Ross, who was part of Darien’s 2015 state championship team, took over the Ludlowe program in 2017 and has steadily built the Falcons into a contender. “To be honest this one’s the biggest for me,” Ross said after the game. “It took a decade to get to the point where we can compete with these teams and for these guys who are seniors now, it took them five years to get here to the point where they are confident in themselves enough that they believe we can win any game.”
Ludlowe’s offense controlled the clock, running 72 plays compared to Darien’s 34 and holding a 21-6 edge in first downs. Love completed passes to eight different receivers, with Cole Stotler leading the way with six catches for 82 yards and both touchdowns. The first score came at the end of a 17-play, 75-yard drive featuring three third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion. Love found Stotler for a nine-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter, followed by a two-point run from Reid Stanton to make it 8-0.
The Falcons extended their lead early in the fourth quarter on a 42-yard strike from Love to Stotler. Nat Sollinger added the extra point to bring the final score to 15-0.
Ludlowe’s defense was dominant, holding Darien to just two first downs in the first three quarters and recording the Blue Wave’s first shutout loss since Thanksgiving 2024 against New Canaan. Timmy O’Neill contributed five catches on offense and also intercepted a pass on defense.
Love credited the win to the defense as much as the offense. “There were people doubting our defense,” he said. “They thought this was going to be a shootout and our offense had to win us the game. But they won us this one. We owe them next game.”
Darien coach Andy Grant acknowledged his team struggled to run the ball and control possession. “Offensively, we never got going,” he said. “We thought we’d be able to run the ball a little better than we did. They did a nice job defending us and we just didn’t possess the ball very long. It was probably close to 75-25 in terms of times of possession with their long, long drives.”
Ludlowe improved to 3-0 on the season, while Darien fell to 1-2 after facing a challenging schedule early in the campaign.
Ross praised Love’s performance, calling him “the best quarterback I’ve had in 23 years.” He added that former Darien quarterbacks had messaged him ahead of the game acknowledging Love’s ability.
The Falcons are aiming to return to the Class L tournament for the third consecutive year after last season’s quarterfinal loss to Cheshire. In that game, Ludlowe led 29-10 at halftime but saw Love go down with an injury before Cheshire rallied to win 32-29. Love said the team has kept that loss front and center. “I don’t think there’s any player on the team that hasn’t thought about that every day of the year,” he said.
Friday’s win over Darien marked a significant milestone for Ludlowe’s football program and the players who have steadily built confidence under Ross’s leadership. The Falcons will look to maintain their momentum as the season progresses.
According to Yahoo Sports.