By Cassie Silkoff ’25
On Friday Oct. 11, 2024, the Red Raiders of Derby played their homecoming game against the Wildcats of Seymour on the Lou Defilippo Field in a nail-biter of a game. The Raiders held the lead through all three quarters but it was the Wildcats who came out on top in a 21-18 victory.
Going into the matchup, the Raiders had a record of 3-1 and the Wildcats had a record of 1-3. All bets had the Raiders favored to win, which doesn’t tell the story of their last few seasons. In previous years Derby has gone 0-10, 0-10, and 2-8, but this year opened up the season 3-0. Things were looking extremely hopeful for the boys in red, especially with last year’s loss to Seymour of 34-24 to fuel that fire. Derby High School’s Security Officer and Seymour Football Coach Shawn Wandel claims “We knew we would have to be on our best going in. They have a better record than us and they’re bigger, they’re faster, and are just better athletes.”
He described how his team zoned in on specific Derby players like Jayzair Barbera ‘25, “He’s the quarterback and we knew we had to contain him in the pocket and not let him beat us with his speed, and the receivers like Jaylen Titus, Quincy Carter, and Aydan Martinez, all three guys are super fast,” said Wandel, and they did just that. Barbera threw 1 interception and the Wildcats only allowed 3 touchdowns to be scored by the Raiders.
Derby Head Coach Jeremy Clark still feels strongly about how the boys can perform for the rest of the season. He said “Well, any loss is tough but a learning experience. Back to 0-0 next week with a big matchup versus Kennedy Saturday morning. Rise and shine Red Raiders!” The boys feel the same with Barbara expressing “This loss doesn’t define our season and the team should keep their heads up and keep our mentality going.”Aydan Martinez ‘25 also stated, “This loss just showed us we have things to work on and losing by three is not indicative of what the team can actually do.”
Both teams had some outstanding performers. Clark raved that his shoutout player of the game was, “Aydan Martinez for playing like a warrior on defense and bringing in his first touchdown on the season. Very proud of Aydan!” Wandel shouted out Seymour’s Connor Shea 27’ , “He ran the ball both ways, scored a touchdown running, and had an interception. He had a great game.”
When asked how he would have felt if the outcome of the game had been different, Wandel reported “I played football for Derby back in the 90s and have been working there for 4 years now so of course I always root for Derby but I coach at Seymour so I wanted the win, but I wouldn’t have been disappointed.” Valley loyalty runs deep in the Naugatuck Valley League (NVL), and the community is very supportive of each other especially with Clark being a valley native himself, who played for Woodland Regional High School.
Statistically, Derby compiled more total yards on the night with 354 total (243 passing yards and 111 rushing yards) while Seymour had a total of 206 yards with 49 passing and 157 rushing.
With five games left in the season, both teams have the opportunity to leave their marks on the field with strong finishes! Good luck boys!
The Raider Press 