Killingly football has dream season

Saturday
Dec 30, 2017 at 9:05 PM Dec 30, 2017 at 9:05 PM

The Bulletin

This week the Norwich Bulletin is presenting the Top 10 sports stories of 2017. Today we look at our No. 1 story of the year: the Killingly High School football team’s unbeaten and state championship season.
It started with Redmen quarterback Luke Desaulnier throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass to Vasileios Politis, who was granted a medical exemption by the CIAC to play this year after missing most of his senior year battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and ended with with Redmen head coach Chad Neal hoisting the Class M state championship plaque following Killingly’s 41-14 victory over Joel Barlow at Veteran’s Stadium in New Britain.    
In between, it was a season for the ages for the Killingly football program.
“We’re Killingly strong. Our community has been through so much and these kids fight. They fight adversity,” an excited and breathless Neal said after the championship game. “They have done everything a coach could ask for. We’re 13-0 and I think we’re the best team in the State of Connecticut.”
Killingly finished unbeaten for the first time 1953. The Redmen, who compete in the Eastern Connectiocut Conference, outscored their opponents, 589-137, an average margin of victory of 45.3-10.5. They crushed Law, 57-21, and Berlin, 49-7, en route to the Class M final.
The win over Barlow was the Redmen’s third football state championship and first since beating New Cannnan ion the ANNAN  1996.
Redmen senior Spencer Lockwood was the state’s leading rusher with 3,137 yards and 44 touchdowns. He finished with 3,300 all-purpose yards and 46 touchdowns. Lockwood finished with 7,000 plus rushing yards, fourth-best in state history.
Lockwood became the first Killingly High football player to be named the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year. The only other ECC player to win that prestigious award was New London’s Jamal Johnson in 1988.
“He deserves it,” Neal said. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime type player to have and really, this whole group, the seniors, are a coaches dream. This is a group that I will never forget.”  
Senior runnng back/linebacker Zach Caffrey also rushed for over 1,000 yards while epitomizing the Redmen’s now legendary RPO (“run people over”) offensive mentality.
Throughout the year, Lockwood and Caffrey both sang the praises of the Redmen’s outstanding offensive line: Alex Fontaine, Ethan Canova, John Cacciapuoti, Michael DiRuscio, and Matt Phelan.
“I think anybody out there looking at this program and see kids who made the difference would have to look at those kids on the offensive line,” Killingly veteran assistant coach Gary Brine said. “They went to town and did some work.”
The Redmen were perfect this season. The only unbeaten team in the state.
 “It’s just all the hard work and for the kids who played for me before,” Neal said after the Redmen’s 49-7 win over Berlin in the Class M semifinals. “The kids who played through all the lean years who stuck it out and stuck by us. The (school) administration that stuck by me and you saw it (Sunday) what is behind us - this community. This school has been through a lot with losses (of life) this past year and the (Vasileios Politis cancer) situation. This is just so special. It’s something we will never forget.”                     

Saturday
Dec 30, 2017 at 9:05 PM Dec 30, 2017 at 9:05 PM

The Bulletin

This week the Norwich Bulletin is presenting the Top 10 sports stories of 2017. Today we look at our No. 1 story of the year: the Killingly High School football team’s unbeaten and state championship season.
It started with Redmen quarterback Luke Desaulnier throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass to Vasileios Politis, who was granted a medical exemption by the CIAC to play this year after missing most of his senior year battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and ended with with Redmen head coach Chad Neal hoisting the Class M state championship plaque following Killingly’s 41-14 victory over Joel Barlow at Veteran’s Stadium in New Britain.    
In between, it was a season for the ages for the Killingly football program.
“We’re Killingly strong. Our community has been through so much and these kids fight. They fight adversity,” an excited and breathless Neal said after the championship game. “They have done everything a coach could ask for. We’re 13-0 and I think we’re the best team in the State of Connecticut.”
Killingly finished unbeaten for the first time 1953. The Redmen, who compete in the Eastern Connectiocut Conference, outscored their opponents, 589-137, an average margin of victory of 45.3-10.5. They crushed Law, 57-21, and Berlin, 49-7, en route to the Class M final.
The win over Barlow was the Redmen’s third football state championship and first since beating New Cannnan ion the ANNAN  1996.
Redmen senior Spencer Lockwood was the state’s leading rusher with 3,137 yards and 44 touchdowns. He finished with 3,300 all-purpose yards and 46 touchdowns. Lockwood finished with 7,000 plus rushing yards, fourth-best in state history.
Lockwood became the first Killingly High football player to be named the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year. The only other ECC player to win that prestigious award was New London’s Jamal Johnson in 1988.
“He deserves it,” Neal said. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime type player to have and really, this whole group, the seniors, are a coaches dream. This is a group that I will never forget.”  
Senior runnng back/linebacker Zach Caffrey also rushed for over 1,000 yards while epitomizing the Redmen’s now legendary RPO (“run people over”) offensive mentality.
Throughout the year, Lockwood and Caffrey both sang the praises of the Redmen’s outstanding offensive line: Alex Fontaine, Ethan Canova, John Cacciapuoti, Michael DiRuscio, and Matt Phelan.
“I think anybody out there looking at this program and see kids who made the difference would have to look at those kids on the offensive line,” Killingly veteran assistant coach Gary Brine said. “They went to town and did some work.”
The Redmen were perfect this season. The only unbeaten team in the state.
 “It’s just all the hard work and for the kids who played for me before,” Neal said after the Redmen’s 49-7 win over Berlin in the Class M semifinals. “The kids who played through all the lean years who stuck it out and stuck by us. The (school) administration that stuck by me and you saw it (Sunday) what is behind us - this community. This school has been through a lot with losses (of life) this past year and the (Vasileios Politis cancer) situation. This is just so special. It’s something we will never forget.”                     

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