No. 9 West Haven thrashes Notre Dame-West Haven

By Mike Madera, Special to the Register

Ervin Philips (left) of West Haven runs for a touchdown in the first quarter against Notre Dame on 9/28/2012. Photo by Arnold Gold/New Haven Register AG0464B

WEST HAVEN — The West Haven football team has had plenty of time to think about its last visit to Veterans Stadium. The contest, which resulted in a West Haven loss, was one of the reasons the Westies failed to qualify for the postseason last year.

Fast forward to Friday night and the Westies have new — and better — memories. Behind a powerful running game which accumulated 330 rushing yards, the Westies defeated Notre Dame-West Haven 34-13 in a Southern Connecticut Conference Division I East game.

“This is a real big win for us,” West Haven’s Ervin Philips said. “We worked hard in practice all week. We wanted to get a win here. We knew we needed a good showing on offense. We are just taking it a week at a time.”

No. 3 Hand cruises past Cheshire

By Dave Phillips, Special to the Register

MADISON — Steve Filippone called it a one-time only deal. But maybe the way Hand played Friday night, he ought to reconsider.

With the Tigers’ usual home at the Surf Club under water from the afternoon heavy rain, third-ranked Hand played for the first time at its high school turf field and was extremely impressive, dominating Cheshire, 35-7.

“I didn’t like it at all,” said a soaked Filippone after Hand upped its record to 3-0. “There’s nothing like the Surf Club, but we got this done tonight. We’re never going to play on this field again. This will be retired undefeated with Hand football.”

Hand, which runs out of the spread offense, rushed for over 280 yards a week ago in a 37-19 victory at Hillhouse. On Friday, the Tigers did most of their damage on the ground again.


ROUNDUP

Harold Cooper ran for four touchdowns and JaVaughn Moore ran for a 63-yard score as Hillhouse downed Branford 32-18 in Branford on Friday.

Cooper had touchdown runs of 78, 27, 27 and 13 in the win for the Academics (2-1).

Alex Borkowski had two rushing touchdowns and 116 rushing yards for the Hornets (1-2).


Hillhouse's Harold Cooper and Notre Dame's Cameran Tucker have been nominated for FRIDAY'S STAR