Date: Fri 01-Dec-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Chris-Petitti-Feature

Full Text:

Chris Petitti Feature

" When we went to states my freshman year, " said Chris Petitti, " and I got a

chance to see the seniors, how happy they were, I just wanted to be able to

feel the same way. But not every dream comes true. "

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

There are some things in his four-year football career at Newtown High School

that Chris Petitti would like to forget.

. . . that first pass of his sophomore year, his first pass as a starter,

which Billy Arline, now playing with Boston College, took back 40 yards for a

touchdown.  . . . that same year, Ernie Badillo's extra point against Bethel

that could have been good or could have been wide, but which nevertheless kept

Newtown out of the Western Connecticut Conference championship.

. . . the loss to Brookfield on Homecoming Day in 1994, the hardest game he

has ever had to suffer through.

. . . a 15-14 loss to Masuk on November 17, a loss as tough as anything he has

had to deal with.

But what he can't forget, what he will remember as he heads off to Stonybrook

College or Sacred Heart University or wherever, is that his career as

signal-caller for the Newtown High School Indians has been a very solid one.

In his career, the senior quarterback, even with the run-oriented offense of

coach Bob Zito, was 164-of-317 (51.7%) for 2,103 yards and 21 touchdowns. He

has had to tuck the ball from time to time, too, and with 45 rushes in three

years he gained 152 yards and scored three times.

" I think everything went well, " said Chris. " I remember coming into my

sophomore year. I was nervous to be playing because I was the youngest guy in

the offensive huddle. It seems like things went faster than I thought they

would. " It feels like yesterday I was suiting up for the first time. "

Always A Quarterback

It seems like Chris Petitti has always been a quarterback.

When he first lashed on the helmet and the shoulder pads as a pee wee in the

Pop Warner football program, he was slated to be a halfback. And he actually

played a little defensive back.

But what he stuck to, what became his forte, was handling the football.

He didn't throw a lot in Pop Warner, but the high school game was different.

Even though the Newtown Indians were loaded in the backfield (Joe Lato set the

school rushing record in 1992), Chris would nevertheless have to throw

effectively when he was needed to.

In very limited action as a freshman, behind junior quarterback Rob Markin,

Chris was 4-of-5 for 26 yards and had a chance to get a taste of the state

championship the Indians steamrolled to in 1992.

It gave him a taste he liked.

" When we went to states my freshman year, " he said, " I got a chance to see

the seniors, how happy they were, I just wanted to be able to feel the same

way. But not every dream comes true. "

Chris became the starting quarterback in 1993 and it was as much a baptism by

fire as anything else. He quickly discovered how difficult it was to pick up

the sophisticated defenses and make the proper reads. His first pass from

scrimmage was intercepted by Billy Arline and taken back 40 yards for a

touchdown, while the rest of his day mapped out to a 6-of-14 performance for

79 yards.

It got better along the way. Chris wasn't asked to throw a lot, going to the

air only 95 times all season, with his best performance being 7-of-13 for 104

yards. " We kind of threw him in there as a sophomore, " said coach Bob Zito,

" only because we needed (Rob) Markin elsewhere. He had the raw talent and we

thought he had something there. He went through the growing pains, but got a

lot of experience. He did some things very good and I think we got what we

wanted out of him. "

A back problem he developed in his sophomore year, though, hampered him as a

junior, cutting down his effectiveness as he was 56-of-125 (44.8%) for 755

yards and six touchdowns through the season.

" We thought we would get more production out of him, " coach Zito said, " but

there were a lot of things he couldn't control. We didn't block very well for

him and it's tough to throw when you're being chased all over the field. "

As a senior, though, it seemed to come together despite a fractured finger and

hip problem that began the year on a painful note. He hit on 58-of-92 passes

(63.1%) for 817 yards (8.9 yards per throw and 14.1 yards per completion) and

11 touchdowns, second-best in the WCC.

" In the off-season we went to a couple of camps and that helped me get ahead,

" Chris said. " We worked a lot with the receivers and we ran a lot of plays

at camp. But from my sophomore to my junior years, I wasn't real comfortable

with the way I was passing. Then, from my junior to my seniors years it became

more natural. It seems like it's a lot easier for me. I don't have to think as

much. "

What he had to think about this year, though, was his role. The Indians came

into the 1995 season with the comfortable feeling of having five quality backs

- Patrick Reilly, John Buonanno, Ryan Henry, Matt Huray, and Ryan Bunt - in

the backfield, but when Reilly and Henry were dropped by season-ending

injuries, thoughts began swirling.

" I thought we were going to have to pass the ball a lot, " Chris said, " but

Ryan (Bunt) came in a did a great job. Matt Huray did a good job, too, running

and blocking. I thought that's where we were going to have the most trouble,

at fullback, but he had a great year. "

Coach Zito added, " With the guys we had in the backfield, there weren't a lot

of plays for Chris. He threw about 10 times a game and he made the most of

those opportunities. "

The opportunities Chris would have liked to make more of came in the November

17 game with Masuk. The Indians needed to get by the Panthers to get a second

shot at Brookfield and the WCC championship.

But Masuk shocked the Indians, 15-14, and got the bid themselves.

" We had it working, " said Chris. " We were moving the ball great. But we

made a lot of mistakes. I know I made mistakes. Even then we were up and

everybody was excited, the crowd was excited, and everything just turned

around. " It was probably the worst feeling I ever had, " he added. " It was

all right there in front of us. "

It was a tough ending, but Chris - with the help of coach John Murphy, more

than anyone else - came through his experiences as a starting quarterback very

well.

Other Paths To Take

There was a time when Chris Petitti had other roads to take, other paths to

choose from than the one that led him to be a starting quarterback.

As a kid, he seemed to grow up with a ball in his hand. In the fall, it was a

football. In the winter, it was a basketball. And in the spring, it was a

baseball. Chris was good with all of them.

" Chris has always been one of the best athletes in his age group in this

town, " said longtime Babe Ruth Baseball coach Tom Wyatt. " I'll never forget

the game he locked up with Chris Hayward in one of the best pitcher's duels

I've ever seen. The two of them combined for something like 30 strikeouts and

Petitti beat us, 1-0. "

Performances like that led coach Wyatt and others to believe Petitti would

become a star on the high school baseball diamond . . . while doing the same

on the football field and basketball floor.

" At first I wanted to play all three sports, " said Chris, " but, then,

getting on the varsity (football team) my freshman year, from there on I knew

football was going to be my sport. My dad always wanted me to play baseball in

college, but as soon as I started playing football he changed his mind. "

Chris played freshman basketball and jayvee baseball his first year at

Newtown, but the back problem that arose during his sophomore football season

kept him off the basketball floor. It was his own decision not to play

baseball that spring.

As a junior, though, he tried to fit all three sports back into his schedule

mainly for something to do. He got cut from the basketball team, but made Tony

Urban's baseball team.

" Mr Urban is a real nice guy and I wanted to play with Matty (Zavatsky) and

Chris (Hayward) and (Chris) Dudley, " said Chris. " I thought I'd go out and

see some time, give me something to do in the off-season to stay in shape. "

He still has the tools to shoot a basketball and to pitch a baseball, but make

no mistake: he is a quarterback. And like Randall Cunningham of the

Philadelphia Eagles, one of his favorite NFL players, Chris Petitti has the

heart of a competitor.