11/17/07: Week 10: Hyde Leadership Varsity 34, North Branford Varsity 14

11/17/07:

North Branford 14 0 0 0 - 14 Hyde Leadership 14 7 7 6 - 34

11/17: North Branford scored a pair of touchdowns very early in this game and built an impressive 14-0 first quarter lead. But the Howling Wolves came right back and scored a pair of their own to even the score at 14.	11/17: QB Gary Esposito connected on a long pass play that went out of bounds at the 1 yard line as the first quarter ended. Two plays into the new quarter, NB fumbled it away in the end zone for a touchback and Hyde took over from there. The Howling Wolves worked along drive for a TD and took a 21-14 lead into the half.	11/17: In the second half, it was all Hyde, dominating both sides of the ball and building up a 34-14 lead, which proved to be the final score. (25 Cheerleader Photos) (350 Photos)

Week 10 Games
11/16/07: Avon Freshmen vs. North Branford Freshmen, 6:00pm
11/17/07: Hyde Leadership Varsity 34, North Branford Varsity 14
 

11/10/07: Week 9: North Branford Varsity 47, Morgan (Clinton) Varsity 13

11/10/07:

North Branford 20 13 7 7 - 47 Morgan (Clinton) 0 6 7 0 - 13

11/10: North Branford took the opening kick and worked their way into Husky territory on a nice pass play, but then fumbled it away. The Huskies first drive stalled, and their punt was blocked into the end zone and covered by Frank Leonard for a TBird TD and a 6-0 lead. On the last play of the 1st quarter, QB Gary Esposito scored on a 44-yard run to put NB up 20-0.	11/10: Morgan threw 4 interceptions in the first half which provided great field position for the TBirds to score 5 TDs and take a commanding 33-6 lead. In the play above, this fumble was caught by a Husky lineman and advanced for 5 yards right before the half ended. (93 Pregame Photos)	11/10: In the second half, Morgan surrendered another interception and a couple more fumbles and NB built a large 47-13 lead with a 3rd quarter TD by Ryan Lucey and QB Gary Esposito's 4th TD of the day in the 4th quarter. (349 Game Photos)

Week 9 Games
11/8/07: Wilcox Tech Freshmen vs. North Branford Freshmen, 4:00pm
11/10/07: North Branford Varsity @ Morgan (Clinton), 1:30pm
 

11/2/07: Week 8: Cromwell Varsity 42, North Branford Varsity 0

11/2: Not much to write about in this one. Cromwell jumped out to an early 21-0 first quarter lead and dominated this game.
(55 Pregame Photos)

The 8-0 Cougars kept pouring it on and by halftime the score ballooned to 35-0.
(Senior Night Photos)

Cromwell scored once more in the 3rd quarter and it was 42-0 when I left the field.
(52 First Half Photos)

10/29/07: Week 7: North Branford Varsity 13, OSW Varsity 6

10/29: In the first quarter, OSW worked a long drive down into the red zone of the Thunderbirds before turning the ball over on downs. North Branford could not move the ball either and the two teams traded possessions into the second quarter. (525 Photos)

North Branford scored first when Gary Esposito dropped a nice pass over the OSW defender into the waiting arms of Mike Reilley down the far right sideline for a 38 yard TD. The extra point made the score 7-0 NB and that was the score at intermission.

The Rams scored in the fourth quarter on a 18 yard pass over the middle for a TD, but the snap on the extra point kick was botched and NB held on for a slim 7-6 lead. The TBirds then went on a lengthy drive that consumed most of the 4th quarter and scored a second TD to make the final score 13-6.

Week 7 Games
10/25/07: North Branford Freshmen @ South Windsor, 3:45pm
10/29/07: North Branford Varsity 13, Old Saybrook/Westbrook 6
10/29/07: Old Saybrook/Westbrook JV vs. North Branford JV, ppd

10/20/07: Week 6: North Branford Varsity 28, Valley Regional 7
10/20/07: Valley Regional 0 7 0 0 - 7 North Branford 0 14 7 7 - 28
A scoreless first quarter was followed by a quarter in which 3 TDs were scored with minutes of each other. After North Branford scored first on a lengthy drive, Valley Regional moved the ball out near midfield with over just a minute left in the half. A Warrior fumble was scooped up by Ryan Lucey who ran it back for a TD and a 14-0 Thunderbird lead.	Valley took the next kickoff, and ran it back 65+ yards for a TD to cut the half time score to 14-7. Joe Lasko had a 3rd quarter interception (above) which helped setup the third NB TD in the third quarter.	It was more Thunderbirds in the fourth quarter, pounding it down and in for TD #4 and a 28-7 win over Valley Regional. (509 Photos)
Week 6 Games 10/18/07: Valley Regional Freshmen vs. North Branford Freshmen (cancelled) 10/20/07: North Branford Varsity 28, Valley Regional Varsity 7 10/22/07: North Branford JV @ Valley Regional JV, 3:45pm
10/12/07: Week 5: Haddam-Killingworth 12, North Branford Varsity 7
10/12/07: Haddam-Killingworth 6 0 0 6 - 12 North Branford 0 0 7 0 - 7
The Cougars ran a long TD down the far right sideline in the first quarter, but missed the extra point to take a 6-0 lead. Neither team could get much else going the rest of the half, and this lead would hold up until intermission. (238 Photos)	In the third quarter, Gary Esposito connected for a long touchdown pass down the inside left sideline and the Thunderbirds successfully kicked the extra point to take a 7-6 lead through three quarters.	Deep in their own end in the 4th quarter, with a few minutes left on the clock, North Branford struggled to make a 1st down which could have eaten up the clock. An unclean handoff ultimately was fumbled away and a couple of plays later, the Cougars punched in the go ahead TD and won won this game 12-7.

Week 5 Games
10/11/07: Haddam-Killingworth Freshmen vs. North Branford Freshmen. 6:00pm
10/12/07: Haddam-Killingworth Varsity 12, North Branford Varsity 7
10/13/07: North Branford JV @ Haddam-Killingworth JV, 10:30am
 

10/8/07: Week 4: Vinal Tech JV 12, North Branford JV 6

There wasn't much offense today as the JV Thunderbirds struggled to move the ball in the first half. Vinal Tech scored a pair of TDs and took a 12-0 lead into the half. (330 Photos)

The 3rd quarter was won by the TBirds as the defense gave up nothing and the special teams excelled. Sal Varca returned an interception for a TD to cut the score to 12-6 through three quarters and NB climbed back into this one with some nice return yardage as well.

NB had a couple of good opportunities to get some points in the fourth quarter, on an interception, and when Vinal Tech turned the ball over on downs, but the offense just couldn't get started and  the Hawks took this one, 12-6.