By Andy Hutchison

NEW BRITAIN — Led by quarterback Caleb Smith and his trio of rushing touchdowns, the top-seeded Staples High football team battled back to defeat No. 3 West Haven 21-20 in the Class LL State Championship game at CCSU’s Arute Field on Saturday night.

Smith found his way into the end zone from 10 yards out for what turned out to be the decisive score with just under five minutes left in regulation and the Wreckers held on.

Staples fell behind 14-7 and were within a point headed to the fourth because of a missed extra point attempt.

Smith’s go-ahead score and a two-point conversion made it 21-14. 

West Haven pulled to within a point on Armani Reid’s late score, but Max Maurillo made the tackle to stop West Haven on its two-point conversion try at the end of the game.

The Wreckers overcame the same West Haven squad that it lost to by 10 points in the regular season opener.

That was the first and only time the Wreckers fell this fall, reeling off a dozen consecutive wins culminating with this redemption game on the big stage.

West Haven threatened to add to its 14-13 lead but the Staples defense held strong to force a turnover on downs and set up Smith’s eventual game-winner.

The Staples QB also had TD runs from seven yards and one yard out.

This is Staples’ fourth state championship and first since winning the Class L title in 2005.

The Wreckers previously reached a pair of LL title games, falling to Cheshire in 2009 and Xavier in 2011.

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s. Learn more about us here.