Sports
Law football shuts out Hamden as QB Matt Witteman accounts for all five touchdowns
HAMDEN – Matt Witteman performed as you would expect from one of Connecticut‘s top returning quarterbacks Thursday night – he accounted for all five of Law’s touchdowns.
And if the Lawmen can provide more defensive efforts like they did against Hamden, then they will be tough to beat. Law forced four turnovers in the 36-0 win over the Green Dragons in an SCC football game at Joe Bruno Field.
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“We have really high expectations for this defense, so we were just expecting to do really good this week and that’s what we did,” said Alex Konilan, who had a fumble recovery for Law.
Law forced three turnovers in the third quarter alone, leading to 14 points – two touchdown runs by Witteman for 20 and 2 yards, respectively.
“The defense was on fire today,” Witteman said. “Offensively, we started out a little bit slow, but the defense was right there to pick us up. We have a lot of trust in them and we believe in them, so for them to come through and just pick us up when we’re down, it’s huge for us.”
Konilan had his fumble recovery early in the third quarter right after Hamden recovered an onside kick to begin the half. Marquis Rose picked off Witteman on Law’s first possession of the second half.
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Logan Mullarkey intercepted Hamden quarterback Soren Wallin and Seamus Fedigan recovered a fumble for the Lawmen. Fedigan also recovered a fumble in the first half, deep in Hamden territory.
“They’ve been playing out of their minds,” Law coach Ryan Pearson said of the defense. “They have been playing super-fast, super-physical. The last couple of scrimmages leading into this, they’ve been electric and just playing hard and always fast to the ball and I love to see that.”
In addition to the four turnovers, Hamden came up short on a couple of fourth-down plays, including one late in the first half deep in Law territory.
“I think this game started last Friday. I think the way we approach practices, if we want to be a good team, we got to get better in practice,” Hamden coach Tom Dyer said. “Our practice habits have got to be better, our commitment level’s got to be better. … You can’t come against a Jonathan Law playoff team (in Class SS last season) with a quarterback as dynamic as the Witteman kid, you’re not going to be able to turn the ball over four times.”
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A 52-yard touchdown run by Hamden’s Josh Johnson in the first quarter was also negated due to a holding penalty.
“Credit to Law and Coach Pearson, their game plan was great, they did a nice job, but I also think we left things on the table,” Dyer said. “We are going to evaluate this and look at what do we need to correct to get better, and as coaches, how can we help get our kids in a better spot to win.”
Player of the Game
Matt Witteman, Law: The senior quarterback got off to a slow start with three incompletions, but picked things up in the second quarter and accounted for all five of Law’s touchdowns (three passing, two rushing).
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Quotable
“Expectations can be high, but the kids don’t really buy into it and they just keep doing what they got to do and keep playing hard.”
-Law football coach Ryan Pearson
Law 36, Hamden 0
LAW 3 12 14 7-36
HAMDEN 0 0 0 0- 0
L-Aiden Ramos 35 field goal
L-Dylan Gillard 7 pass from Matt Witteman (pass failed)
L-Hunter Kendzierski 52 pass from Witteman (run failed)
L-Witteman 20 run (Ramos kick)
L-Witteman 2 run (Ramos kick)
L-Reid Moulton 13 pass from Witteman (Ramos kick)
Law 1-0; Hamden 0-1.
This article originally published at Law football shuts out Hamden as QB Matt Witteman accounts for all five touchdowns.
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