McMahon defeats Norwalk behind Jordan's two TDs

NORWALK -- One game removed from rushing for 281 yards and four touchdowns against Stamford, McMahon's Kyle Jordan got off to an inauspicious start in his last high school football game.

Jordan was held in check early by Norwalk on Thanksgiving, with zero yards on his first four carries and only 20 yards on nine carries in the first half.

But the senior running back reverted to form in the second half, notching touchdown runs of 20 yards and 61 yards, respectively, finishing his high school career with a 130-yard outing as the Senators beat the crosstown rival Bears 29-12.

"They had us bottled up in the first half," Jordan said. "But even though they knocked me down, I still stayed confident. It says that in the Bible, it says that in the Book of Psalms, that you have to keep going. They thought they were going to wear us down, but we wore them down."

Norwalk came in committed to stopping McMahon's two-headed backfield monster. They kept Jordan in check early and backfield mate Trevon Forney was hobbled by an injury on the team's first series. So McMahon coach AJ Albano turned to a relatively untapped resource: sophomore running back Kentrell Snider.

McMahon quarterback Matt Downey (10-14 for 114 yards passing) connected on two passes for 26 yards on the 10-play opening drive, and the Senators were helped by a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty. On his second carry of the game, Snider punched it in from four yards out and McMahon led 6-0. It was the first of Snider's two touchdowns on the game.

"We keyed on Jordan and Forney," Norwalk coach Sean Ireland said. "But you take person A out, person B steps in."

Ireland and his team hoped to control the clock with senior running back Tomar Joseph. But the stocky back never got going, accumulating just 24 yards on nine carries before leaving the game in the middle of the fourth quarter with a knee injury.

Snider scored his second touchdown at 6:07 of the second quarter, when Downey rolled out against the grain and connected with Snider down the field for a 30-yard score. Jordan ran in the conversion to make it 14-0.

On Norwalk's ensuing drive, Joseph fumbled on the drive's first play, setting the Senators up on Norwalk's 38-yard line. But the eight-play drive stalled at the 12-yard line and McMahon turned the ball over on downs.

Norwalk did little on its next drive, punting to McMahon with under a minute left in the half. With a 14-point lead, Albano opted not to play it safe deep in his own territory, calling for a questionable pass play that was intercepted by Norwalk's Andy Lovo and taken back 32 yards for a score.

"They expected us to run," Albano said. "I said, `Let's give it a shot.' I didn't expect it to be a pick-six. My fault. You know, we talk about being accountable? My bad. If it was 7-0 there, maybe I don't do that. But being up two scores, I thought we could catch them off guard, but obviously we didn't."

The score remained 14-6 well into the third quarter as both teams sputtered on offense.

After going three and out on its first two series of the second half, Norwalk cut the lead to two points when sophomore quarterback Jeremy Linton slipped through the McMahon defense and bolted down the sideline for an 85-yard touchdown.

"Jeremy, we're nervous about playing him for the next two years, because he showed his speed there," Albano said.

Norwalk had a great opportunity to tie the game on a two-point conversion, but Linton's pass to Luke Sweeney fell incomplete in the end zone.

"It all comes down to execution. We have guy wide open in the end zone and we don't hit him," Ireland said.

On the subsequent kickoff, Norwalk pooched a kick up the seam that looked like an attempted onside kick. McMahon recovered it easily. Afterwards Ireland said the kick was simply mishit.

Seven plays later, Jordan broke free of containment and went 20 yards for his first touchdown and McMahon led 21-12. After Norwalk went three and out, McMahon put the game out of reach on the third play of its next drive, as Jordan dashed down the sideline for a 61-yard score.

"You have to give them credit," Ireland said. "What we thought would happen to them happened to us. We got worn down. We were huffing wind at the end."

As Tomar Joseph sat on the Norwalk bench, brooding about the end of his high school career and the knee injury that took him from the game, McMahon's entire team walked over to him individually in the postgame handshake and showed respect to the opposing player.

"That stems down right from their staff. AJ is classy, the whole staff is classy," Ireland said.

cmartin@bccnew.com

Brien McMahon 29, Norwalk 12

BM--Snider 4 run (Kick failed)

BM--Snider 30 pass Matt Downey (Jordan run)

N--Lovo 32 Interception return (Kick failed)

N--Linton 85 run (Conversion pass failed)

BM--Jordan 20 run (Nick Briganti kick)

BM--Jordan 61 run (Conversion pass Downey to Matt Hargrove)

Records: BM 7-4; N 3-7.