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For most of the contest, a stingy and pesky Plainville defense kept Berlin off-balanced.
"It wasn’t a great performance (by Berlin) and my hat goes off to Plainville," said Berlin coach John Capodice. "(Plainville) played well, they played hard. It was home-coming and (Plainville) came out and they competed."
Plainville finally posted points on the board midway through the fourth quarter. Berlin, attempting a punt in its own endzone, bobbled the ball out of the endzone, resulting in a safety worth two points and possession of the ball. On the ensuing plays, the Blue Devils could not break through Berlin’s defensive wall and turned the ball over on downs.
"This was our game, and we beat ourselves today," said Plainville coach Michael Archangelo. "Offensively, (Berlin) didn’t do anything. They broke down on a couple of key plays and offensively, (Plainville) just made some foolish mistakes that cost us the game."
Three interceptions and costly turnovers gave Berlin several offensive opportunities but it could only cash in on a couple of the Devils’ miscues.
"(Berlin) won this game on our mistakes that we made," said Archangelo. "We are a young team and I expect them to make mistakes but not from my senior group."
It looked like Plainville had one last chance with less than two minutes remaining in the contest but it could not get the ball back. On a fourth-and-3, Berlin QB Dan Madey zigged and zagged for a four-yard completion and a first down, putting any chance of a Plainville comeback out of reach.
"Danny is a competitor," said Capodice. "He hung in there. He struggled in the first half and he made a big play when we needed it."
On Berlin’s first possession of the game, the Redcoats got the ball to the Plainville one, but a fumble turned the ball over to the Devils. Berlin had opportunities on its second possession only to see it deteriorate as Plainville’s Shawn Thibeault intercepted a Madey pass.
"(My defense) did a fantastic job today," said Archangelo. "We knew what (Berlin) was going to come with and we were at the spots and at the tackles. We just had a couple of plays we fell asleep on."
Madey connected on 5-of-15 passes for 76 yards while Catalano caught two passes for 34 yards. The Redcoats were contained to only 89 rushing yards for the game.
"We didn’t execute the way we normally execute," said Capodice. "Our defense hung in there and made the stops they had to make. But again, the credit goes to Plainville."
T.C. Scott rushed 22 times for 70 yards while Vincelette connected on four passes-including a beautiful strike to Chris Boland for 64 yards-for a total of 88 yards.
Next week, Plainville travels to Avon while the competition increases for Berlin with a contest against powerful Northwest Catholic.
"Northwest Catholic is coming in undefeated," said Capodice. "Right down the stretch, we have big games every week. If we don’t take care of business, we won’t be where we want to be in the end."
