By Rob Gullo
NEFJ Correspondent

WINDSOR — In a matchup between two top 10 high school football teams in the state of Connecticut, the No. 10 New Britain Golden Hurricanes started the season with a 28-12 road victory against the No. 6 Windsor Warriors on Friday night.

New Britain quarterback Billy Seymour rushed for two touchdowns, while running back Camani McDaniel rushed for a touchdown, and Xayvian Crespo took a 12-yard fumble recovery to the house for all four of New Britain’s scores.

Facing one of the state’s top programs in Windsor on the road, New Britain coach Isaiah Boddie knew the challenge they presented to his team. He said that after his team fell short in the playoffs last season, they were on a mission to redeem themselves; Friday’s win was huge to start the season.
“I think it was a huge win,” said Boddie. “Our guys have prepared since December for this moment. Last season was a bad taste in our mouth, we want to redeem ourselves. Windsor is a defending state champion, we know what type of team they are, we know Fleet [Robert Fleeting] prepares his team. It feels humbling and exciting for our guys, but we know we have to get back to work for next week.”

After both defenses came up with stops on their first offensive possession, Windsor struck first with an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown from running back Robert McKinney. The extra point hit the goal post and was no good, giving Windsor a 6-0 lead with 4:44 remaining in the first frame.

The Golden Hurricanes put together a good offensive drive on their ensuing possession, getting a few first-down runs from Seymour. Marching down to the Windsor seven-yard line, Seymour threw an incomplete pass on 4th-and-goal, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Each team exchanged punts on the next two drives, with New Britain pinning Windsor down to its own two-yard line around midway through the second quarter. This ended up being big for the Golden Hurricanes, who, as a result, took the lead moments later.

Facing third-and-short from its own nine-yard line, Windsor running back D’Mari Ingram lost control of the handoff from LJ Richardson, and New Britain’s Xayvian Crespo scooped up the ball for a 12-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. The Golden Hurricanes’ extra point was good, giving them a 7-6 lead with 4:43 left in the first half.

Thanks to the help of defensive line coach Dennis Moynihan and being at the right place at the right time, Crespo made a momentum-shifting play for New Britain.

“I thank Dennis up there in the box,” said Crespo. “He kept telling me about the spill when they’re pulling, it spilt. The ball was just there, Benitez came up the gap and hit it, and I had nothing on my mind but touchdown.”

Both Windsor and New Britain got within 30 yards of scoring on the last two drives of the half. The Golden Hurricanes got to the 25-yard line as the half expired.

New Britain opened the second half with a drive that resulted in an 11-yard rushing touchdown from Seymour to go up 14-6. The lead extended on their next drive as McDaniel punched in a two-yard touchdown run, giving the Golden Hurricanes a 21-6 lead with 3:19 left in the third quarter.

Things started to look like they were getting out of hand, but Windsor’s Jayden Compton returned the ensuing kickoff to the New Britain five-yard line. He finished off the offensive drive with a 1-yard keeper for a touchdown but failed to run in the two-point conversion, making it 21-12 with a few minutes left in the third quarter.

An interception by Golden Hurricanes linebacker Julius Mendez with eight minutes left to play set up a game-sealing 41-yard touchdown run from Seymour.

New Britain will host top-five opponent and defending Class LL champion Greenwich next Friday at 6:00 p.m. Windsor will face top-10 opponent St. Joseph next Saturday on the road at 1:30 p.m.

Facing another defending champion and with a big home game in New Britain next Friday, the Golden Hurricanes’ focus is continuing to get better in practice and not getting ahead of themselves, despite Friday’s big win.

“The approach is to stay humble,” said Seymour. “We can’t get too ahead of ourselves, it’s only game 1. Windsor is a great team, but we know Greenwich is a great team also. We just gotta come hungry every week. ”