Turkey Bowl: Darien Suffers Ninth Straight Loss To New Canaan, 42-21

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New Canaan's domination of the Turkey Bowl continues.

Matt Milano passed for 270 yards and four touchdowns as the Rams routed Darien 42-21 Thursday morning at Dunning Stadium to clinch a spot in the CIAC Class L state playoffs.

New Canaan, which concluded the regular season at 9-1, won its ninth straight game against its archrival and 10th in the last 11 meetings to increase its lead in the series to 48-33-2.

The Rams, who are seeking their sixth consecutive state championship game appearance, finished fifth in the Class L rankings and will visit No. 4 New London in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

New Canaan was virtually unstoppable, piling up more than 500 yards of total offense. After taking a 21-7 halftime lead, the Rams broke it open with 21 unanswered points in the third quarter.

Darien, which finished 8-2 and was eliminated from postseason play, has not beaten the Rams since 2001.

Lou Marinelli, who won his 250th game as New Canaan coach earlier this season, improved to 21-11-1 against Darien.

After Milano opened the scoring on a 10-yard TD pass to Patrick Newton, the Blue Wave answered on Henry Baldwin's 8-yard TD toss to Harlan Smith.

However, the Rams took control in the second quarter when Milano threw TD passes of 68 yards to Peter Kraus and 25 yards to Newton.

In the third period,  Kevin McDonough scored on a 1-yard run and Milano ran in from 25 yards.

Milano, who also led New Canaan its Turkey Bowl win last season, then hit Kraus with a 10-yard TD pass to extend the Rams' lead to 42-7.

Darien made the final a bit more respectable with a pair of scores in the fourth period. Baldwin connected with Peter Gesualdi for a 56-yard TD before backup CJ Raia found Smith for a 15-yard TD.

Baldwin passed for 251 yards and three TDs, but he also was picked off four times. New Canaan finished with five interceptions

The Blue Wave were without two players who were suspended for the game after attending a party last Friday in which alcohol was served.

A fight took place at the party in which a victim received "a concussion, a broken bone in his neck, facial lacerations, and had surgery Wednesday repair his broken nose," according to the Darien News.

It was the second time in as many years that the Turkey Bowl was marred by an incident involving Darien football players leading up to the contest.

Last year, five Blue Wave players were suspended for the game following an incident of vandalism in which the New Canaan High School building was spray-painted blue.

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