After a disappointing 21 point loss against Newtown, the Danbury Hatters Football Team returned to action versus  #3 Darien in a home game at Brookfield High School, where they nearly pulled a huge upset. 

Darien came out of the gates flying with a 13-0 lead, but the Hatters were resilient in the 2nd quarter as Senior Malachi Hopkins caught a touchdown pass from Sophomore QB Jackson Ciccone, which made it 13-6 heading into the half. 

As the 2nd half began, Danbury stormed their way to the lead as a Diogo Rosa 27 Yard Field Goal was followed by a 75 Yard pass from Ciccone to Junior WR Xavier Ross to give the Hatters a 17-13 lead midway through the third. Darien countered to take a 20-16 lead at the end of the 3rd. 

To begin the 4th Quarter, Danbury had the ball from their own 15 as Ciccone found Sophomore WR Artez Taft who broke by a defender to get a long 85 yard touchdown. Danbury led 23-20 with 5 minutes remaing. Ciccone, only a sophomore, has been impressive this season, which is not lost on his teammates. 

“Jackson is just so driven… He works hard and he is probably the most competitive person I’ve ever played with,” said Sophomore WR Nick Smith.

Despite the play of Ciccone and Taft, Danbury’s lead was not meant to last.  Jackson Peters caught a 65 yard pass for Darien to give them a 26-23 lead with 4 minutes to go.. Ciccone would take the Hatters up field in their next two drives but threw two interceptions.

Head Coach Augie Tieri was proud of his team’s performance, “I hate using the term moral victory but it really was. After last week we saw what we had to work on and what we needed to do and we did that.” 

Tieri believes the Hatters made a statement to the state and showed that they are for real.  “We’re heading in the right direction as a program and can compete with the best teams in the state. I think there was a little bit of us having to prove it to ourselves and to everyone else.” Tieri said.

The Hatters will return to Hatter Hill to take on Norwalk on Sat. Nov 9. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.