Dream run falls short of goal
O’Brien’s time ‘arrives’ early for Valley/Old Lyme
Deep River — Sophomore Jason O'Brien was being embraced by Valley Regional/Old Lyme assistant coach Steve Woods following Monday's 28-7 playoff loss to St. Joseph in a CIAC Class M semifinal. Before Woods walked away, he left O'Brien with a few final words: “You have arrived.” There's no arguing that. O'Brien left his mark on the first half of Monday's game with a first-quarter interception that left the ball practically on the St. Joseph goal line, leaping high in the air to pick off quarterback Cory Babineau who threw for more than 2,300 yards and 29 touchdowns versus just three interceptions coming into the game.
O'Brien then broke a scoreless tie on the second play of the third quarter, getting wide open behind the St. Joe's defense for a 64-yard touchdown.
“My mentality coming in was 'do it for the seniors,'” O'Brien said. “They are the biggest role models on the planet. I have a lot of family, but these are the closest brothers I ever had. I gave my all to try to get them one more game.”
Top-seeded Valley, which finished the season 10-2, will lose quarterback Matt Sapere, wide receiver/defensive back Garrett Burdick and running back/linebacker Dan Stecher, among others, to graduation.
O'Brien, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound wide receiver/free safety, who revered the older players all while establishing himself as one of the top three-sport athletes at Valley Regional over his first two years there, returns.
“The first half, the first quarter, I
noticed when we ran a certain play, I was wide open,” said O'Brien, who also plays basketball and was the Valley's track team's Most Valuable Player as a freshman last season. “I told coach at halftime and he said, 'Let's do it.'
“Being a sophomore and scoring a touchdown was the best thing I ever experienced. I've scored before, but not in the playoffs. It was a surreal feeling.”
The touchdown gave Valley a 7-0 lead with 11 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The reason high-powered St. Joe's had yet to score? The Valley defense, which forced a pair of first-half turnovers, including O'Brien's interception of Babineau.
That gave Valley the best scoring opportunity of the game to that point, with the Warriors taking over first-and-goal at the St. Joseph 9. Valley wound up settling for a field goal try, however, and missed from 30 yards out.
“I came in thinking, 'I know this quarterback has only thrown three interceptions all season.' Then he threw it and I realized, 'I can get this.' My body went numb for a second.”
“He did a great job. He's a great kid. He's very quiet,” said Valley coach Tim King, also the Warriors' head track coach. “He's a heck of an athlete. In the Shoreline meet for track last year I think he scored 17 points. That was more than three or four teams.”
O'Brien's track events: Hurdles, long jump and triple jump, all of which were on display in one form or another in Monday's football game, too. “He's a big playmaker,” King said. O'Brien finished with three catches for 90 yards and the touchdown. With Valley driving late in the game to try to punch the ball in the end zone one final time, O'Brien caught a ball from Sapere over the middle for a 19-yard gain on fourth-and-14, hanging on to it despite being popped by a couple of St. Joe's defenders. The Warriors fell just shy, with Sapere's final run landing at the St. Joseph 2.
It was one of a couple opportunities of which Valley couldn't take advantage, including O'Brien's interception, sending No. 5 St. Joe's to the championship game Saturday against No. 2 Hillhouse.
“We didn't capitalize on that,” King said. “We punch that it and we go into halftime up 7-0 and we get the ball and come back out? It would have been 14-0. That changes everything.”
“Before the game, I knew we had a lot of talent,” O'Brien said. “We have a quarterback, a running back, an amazing senior receiver. I thought we could win this game.”