By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — Coming off a thrilling, nail-biting victory over Greenwich on Thanksgiving, the tables were turned on the Staples football team in Tuesday night’s Class LL State Playoff opener.

No. 5 Fairfield Prep built an early lead, came from behind, then hung on to edge No. 4 Staples 23-22.

Staples started the game with their backs against the wall. Prep’s opening drive chewed time off the clock and ended with a touchdown. Prep scored another TD in the first quarter and had a 13-0 lead after fifteen minutes of play.

Staples answered in the second quarter on a nice drive capped off by quarterback Caleb Smith’s two-yard TD run. The first half closed after a Prep field goal had the visitors up 16-7.

At the start of the second half, Staples’ James Hillhouse played the starring role. He returned the second-half kickoff into Prep territory and followed that with a tremendous catch down to the six yard line. Smith again rushed for a TD and Staples cut Prep’s lead to 16-14.

The Staples defense stiffened in the third quarter, opening the door for the Wreckers to take the lead early in the fourth. 

Hillhouse had another long reception that set up Smith’s third TD run. Will Holleman ran in for a 2-point conversion to make the score 22-16.

Prep responded with a TD and a point after to go up 23-22. After a strong defensive stop late in the fourth and with no timeouts remaining, Smith led the Wreckers on a drive to the Prep seven yard line. The highlight of the drive was a Smith to Sammy Petrosino pass on 4th and 10, with Petrosino notching 11 yards and stepping out of bounds to keep the drive alive. 

Tyler Clark had multiple receptions on the drive to close out a record breaking year and career. 

With three seconds on the clock, Staples missed a field goal attempt and sent Prep on to host No. 8 Trumbull — a 34-25 winner over No. 1 Southington — in the Dec. 4 semifinals at 12:30 p.m.

It was a tremendous year for the Staples program. The Wreckers compiled a 9-1 regular-season record.

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.