How’s this for a happy Homecoming game?

Greenwich High’s varsity football team amassed 315 yards rushing, totaled 403 yards overall and scored 37 points over the first three quarters of action in its Homecoming Day game against Trumbull, while yielding barely any yards.

That all resulted in another one-sided win for the Cardinals, ranked No. 2 in the state.

Senior running back Hector Lopez rushed for 187 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries and caught a pass for a score in a dominant 44-7 victory for Greenwich, which received another outstanding effort from its defense in the triumph versus Trumbull before a large Homecoming crowd at Cardinal Stadium.

“It was nice to get a Homecoming win here for the seniors and for the families,” Greenwich coach Anthony Morello said following the Cardinals’ Homecoming victory on Oct. 11. “I thought Hector ran really well again, he’s played outstanding this season, I thought the offensive line played really well.”

The Cardinals’ strong offensive line consisting of senior captain Colin Falla, junior Nicholas Vomvolakis, senior Frank Kingsley, junior Casey Baker and junior Mikey Petrone helped ignite the team’s rushing attack and power the passing game.

“We had a good pocket for Phil (Tarantino) to throw to,” Morello said of the offensive line’s blocking. “I thought Phil looked really comfortable with the offense today. He knew when to throw it, he knew when to keep it and he knew when to give it, so that’s the basis of our RPO (run/pass option) scheme.”

Sophomore quarterback Phil Tarantino completed 10 of 16 passes for 88 yards in the victory for the Cardinals, who upped their record to 5-0. Tarantino also ran for two touchdowns for the Cards, who outgained the Eagles, 403-93 in this FCIAC matchup.

“I really liked how we played, I think we played a complete game,” said Tarantino, who has performed at a high level in his first season as Greenwich’s starting quarterback. “We played true Cardinal football the way we ran the ball. We just have to cut back on the holding penalties, but other than that we played a great game.”

Lopez has rushed for more than 100 yards in all of Greenwich’s games so far this season. Senior running back/linebacker Jack Kelly and junior Josh Agreda also had one running score apiece for the victors.

“Hector is a hard-nosed runner, he ran over a few kids,” Tarantino noted. “All the work we put in at practice and now we get to show it.”

A big Lopez run set up Greenwich’s first score – a 23-yard field goal by sophomore placekicker Michael Galano with 10:08 remaining in the first quarter, giving GHS a 3-0 lead on the Eagles. With 1:33 left in the opening quarter, Tarantino reached the end zone on an 8-0 run, putting the Cards two scores ahead of the Eagles.

The score remained 10-0 until Lopez hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline from Tarantino with 3.9 seconds to go in the second quarter. The impressive touchdown pass from Tarantino and catch from Lopez made it 17-0 in favor of Greenwich heading into halftime, which excited the Homecoming crowd.

Taking an inside handoff from Tarantino, Kelly used his speed and elusiveness to dash around the right side and reached the end zone on a 28-yard run. Galano kicked another extra point and the Cardinals held a commanding 24-0 lead at the 8:24 mark of the third period.

“It was an inside run and I saw a cut back lane,” Kelly said of his touchdown. “The O-line blocked it great and I was able to get outside. Great blocking by the O-line.”

Tarantino added a 3-yard touchdown run with 5:44 left in the third quarter, then Lopez escaped the Eagles’ defense for a 14-yard scoring run, making it a 37-0 game.

Agreda sealed the Cards’ scoring with 4:57 to go in the final quarter on an 11-yard spring to the end zone. Trumbull’s lone touchdown came on a 90-yard kickoff return by senior Giovanni Albaladejo with 1:30 left in the third period.

Senior linebacker/captain Santi Parra, junior linebacker Justin Carroll, Kelly and defensive linemen Jacob Mobley, a senior, Andy Stedem, a junior, Brandon Ricketts (senior) and Isaiah McDonald (senior) consistently harassed Eagles senior quarterback Caleb Wuchiski and made it difficult for Trumbull to run the ball as well.

Trumbull managed to gain only 34 yards on the ground and had 93 overall yards.

“We just had to follow whatever our coach planned for us all week and what we practiced all week,” Parra said. “We saw exactly what we saw in practice and we knew how to stop it and they couldn’t do anything.”

Said Morello: “The defense, another shutout, I know it doesn’t look like it because of the kickoff return touchdown that they had. The defense has been sound all season. I was happy with how we were able to wear them down.”

Added Kelly: “For most of the game we were pretty good. There was one drive where they drove down on us and almost scored, but we got a fourth down stop. I thought it was a pretty good game for us. We have a lot to clean up, a lot of penalties to clean up. But we came out with the win and that’s all that matters.”

Greenwich has a bye this week, then it travels to New Canaan for a showdown against the Rams on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. New Canaan is also undefeated so far this season. What a game it should be, as the Rams are the three-time defending CIAC Class L champions and the Cardinals are the defending CIAC Class LL champions.

“We haven’t played them since 2021 they beat us here, 14-7, Morello said of the team’s upcoming game versus New Canaan. “They have won three state championships since we played and we won two. It will be for bragging rights.”

“This is going to be the hardest two weeks that we ever trained,” Tarantino said of preparing to play New Canaan. “This is one of the biggest games this school has ever played. We’re all really excited to play in it.”

“It’s going to be one versus two at New Canaan on a Friday night, it’s going to be packed,” Kelly said.