Ben Beaulieu scored three touchdowns, including two in the early moments of the fourth quarter, to lead Southington to a 38-14 win over Maloney in a CCC Tier 1 matchup at Falcon Field in Meriden on Friday night. The Blue Knights rallied from a narrow 17-14 halftime lead to outscore Maloney 31-0 in the final quarter, improving to 8-1 and moving to the top of the Class LL playoff race.
Southington’s junior running back had already informed coach Rob Levesque he was ready to help on defense if needed, but his offensive impact proved decisive. Beaulieu’s first touchdown of the night came on a short two-yard run to open the scoring. Maloney responded with two long touchdown passes from quarterback Eli Showerda to Jameir Diaz and Cayden Simonds Gaskin, putting the Spartans ahead 14-7.
Southington tied the game before halftime with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jacoby Roman to senior Nick Andrews. The Blue Knights took the lead just before the break when defensive back Andrew Vecchio intercepted a Maloney pass, setting up a 45-yard field goal by Jacob Carrier with 37 seconds remaining in the half.
The third quarter saw no scoring, although Maloney threatened to extend their lead. After stopping Southington on a fourth-and-2 just inside their own 20, Maloney drove inside the Blue Knights’ 8-yard line. On third down, linebacker Tyler Tortora sacked Showerda for a nine-yard loss on a bootleg pass, forcing a missed 34-yard field goal attempt by Maloney kicker Eli Osei.
The fourth quarter was all Southington. On the first snap, Beaulieu took an inside screen from Roman and turned it into a 45-yard touchdown run, reversing field to ignite the Blue Knights. Five minutes later, he broke free on a 61-yard run to the end zone. Andrews added a 37-yard touchdown run as Southington pulled away with 31 unanswered points.
Coach Rob Levesque praised his team’s response after last week’s loss to New Britain. “I said to you last week about how we were going to suck every ounce of learning out of that game, and they were committed to that as soon as we started Saturday morning at 8 a.m. in the weight room,” Levesque said. “They wanted to fix us and we had to fix us … We had kids step up tonight and that’s a program win.”
Maloney, now 6-3 and ranked No. 10 in Class L, had built their lead through Showerda’s two long touchdown passes in the second quarter but could not keep pace after halftime. Beaulieu also contributed on defense, breaking up a Maloney pass in the end zone.
With Staples losing 28-7 to Fairfield Ludlowe on the same night, Southington’s win elevated them to No. 1 in the Class LL playoff standings. The Blue Knights will look to maintain their momentum as the postseason approaches.
The final score read Southington 38, Maloney 14. The scoring summary included Beaulieu’s two-yard run, two touchdown passes from Showerda to Diaz and Simonds Gaskin for Maloney, and Southington’s touchdowns from Andrews and Beaulieu, along with a field goal from Carrier.
According to Yahoo Sports.
