State Championship Week: Berlin Football Offensive Line Hopes To Dominate Title Game

When the Berlin football team plays its state championship game Saturday at 2:05 p.m. at Rentschler Field against Hillhouse, Redcoat senior lineman Mitch Blanchette said he wouldn't mind if the game came down to he and his fellow offensive linemen.

"If there is a situation where we need to grind out first downs, or drive down the field to win the game, I have all the faith in the world in my guys," said the 6-foot-3, 285 pound tackle who also plays defense. "We take a lot of pride in our line and I know we would push each other and want the ball in any situation. Personally if there is a big play, I want the ball to come to my side, through the hole I'm going to open up because that guy in front of me is not going to get the best of me. I have so much faith in those guys, that would be a great situation."

Berlin coach John Capodice has praised the offensive line often this year and has said from the beginning of the season that the Redcoats would only go as far as the offensive line took it.

Senior Tyler Bouchard (6-4, 205) plays tight end, Blanchette and Hector Rodriquez (6-4, 280) play offensive tackle. Chris Meucci (6-2, 240) and Dante Vasi (5-11, 180) play offensive guard and Anthony Duong (5-10, 190) is the center.

There is some history between Hillhouse and Berlin. Two years ago, Hillhouse was seeded eighth and came into Berlin's Scalise Field and eliminated the top-ranked and defending state champion Redcoats in senior Max Delorenzo's final high school game for Berlin.

Hillhouse also eliminated Berlin a few years ago when the Redcoats were big underdogs.

Blanchette was a sophomore and played in that game against Hillhouse.

"I don't remember a lot but I remember they were really fast and our defense had trouble stopping them," he said. "I think the score was 33-30 so we scored against them but we couldn't get the big stop on defense.

"To be honest though, I'm looking past that and using it as a learning process to play better against them this year. I think they were a lot bigger that year than they are this year but either way, I just want us to play our best football game. Our goals don't change. We want to go 1-0 every week and that is the goal this week too."

While Blanchette says there are no thoughts of revenge for the current players he said former players, especially the seniors who were knocked out in that game, have been in contact with the current team and want nothing less than to beat Hillhouse.

"I have talked to Mason Powers, Frank Murphy and Joe Dellaquilla this week already and they are really motivating us to play our best against Hillhouse," Blanchette said. "They just tell us what it felt like to be a senior and leave the field with a loss and they don't want us to have to have that feeling."

While junior quarterback Mitch Williams is a threat and can throw the ball deep, Berlin hangs its hat on being able to pound it out with a punishing running game. The Redcoats have a 1,000-yard rusher in senior Justin Gombotz. His status for the championship game is still uncertain after he suffered an ankle injury. In his absence, fellow senior Scott McLeod has picked up the pace and run the ball effectively along with senior Kevin Main. Seldom-used senior Mike Tirinzoni, usually a defensive stalwart, even gained some yardage in the semifinal win over Weston.

"It's been like that all year," Blanchette said. "We take a lot of pride in being able to move the ball on the ground against anybody. We work hard in practice and we're doing that this week as well. We're going to have to dominate the line, and that's always our goal anyway, to win the state championship."

Blanchette, Meucci and Main, the captains of the team, were able to go to the CIAC luncheon at Rentschler Field Monday. There the players got to meet each other and the Redcoats captains got to see the facilities.

"It was a great experience," Blanchette said. "I have never been to a UConn game so it was the first time I had ever seen the stadium. It was great to see the stage that I'll get the chance to play on for my last game. It was fun because when you meet other players its not always friendly. We got a chance to talk to some of the players like NFA, who is an underdog and still got to the championship game. We wished them luck and they did the same to us. We saw the Hillhouse players and we kind of gave each other glares. We definitely didn't talk to them."

Blanchette said that while the Redcoats are a higher seed (second) than Hillhouse (fourth) he feels the Redcoats are the underdogs.

"If you read most people will pick Hillhouse over us," he added. "We have to come out with an attitude and swagger. We might be the underdogs but we were underdogs in every game last year. People thought we were going to be 5-5 and we ended up 9-1. We need to come out with a chip on our shoulder and be ready to go."

(Stay tuned to Berlin Patch for stories every day this week as the Berlin Redcoats and the Town of Berlin and fans prepare for the Class M state championship game vs. Hillhouse at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.)