Ludlowe football gets first win over Darien behind quarterback Ryan Love and defense

DARIEN – The Darien football field holds a multitude of winning memories for Ludlowe coach Mitch Ross, who was a Blue Wave assistant from 2003 to 2016.

The latest victory may have beaten them all.

Ryan Love connected with Cole Stotler for a pair of touchdowns and the defense delivered a shutout to give Ludlowe its first win over the Blue Wave 15-0 Friday night in Darien.

The Falcons had been 0-10 against Darien since the Fairfield high schools split in 2003.

Ross, who was part of Darien’s state championship team in 2015, took over the Ludlowe program the following season and has turned it into a contender.

“To be honest this one’s the biggest for me,” Ross said of Friday’s win. “It took a decade to get to the point where we can compete with these teams and for these guys who are seniors now, it took them five years to get here to the point where they are confident in themselves enough that they believe we can win any game.”

Love has been a prime catalyst the past two seasons and came through with 232 passing yards and two touchdowns against Darien. The offense moved the ball consistently, running 72 plays to Darien’s 34 and holding a 21-6 advantage in first downs, but there were enough stumbles to keep the game close.

For Love, the game was all about the coach.

“We knew how much this game meant to coach Ross,” Love said. “He’s been coaching my grade since the eighth grade and we love him so much. He’s done so much for us, so we really had to get this one for him. We owe him that.”

Love completed passes to eight different receivers, a group led by Stotler, who had six catches for 82 yards and both TDs. Tiimmy O’Neill had five catches for 27 yards and had an interception on defense.

Ludlowe’s defense was key to the win, holding Darien to just two first downs in the first three quarters and handing the Wave its first shutout loss since Thanksgiving, 2024, against New Canaan.

“There were people doubting our defense,” Love said. “They thought this was going to be a shootout and our offense had to win us the game. But they won us this one. We owe them next game.”

While Ludlowe climbed to 3-0, Darien dropped to 1-2, albeit it against a tough schedule in the opening three weeks.

“Offensively, we never got going,” Darien coach Andy Grant said. “We thought we’d be able to run the ball a little better than we did. They did a nice job defending us and we just didn’t possess the ball very long. It was probably close to 75-25 in terms of times of possession with their long, long drives.”

Ludlowe scored its first touchdown at the end of a 17-play, 75-yard drive which included conversions on three third downs and one fourth down. Love’s pass to Stotler for a nine-yard TD and a subsequent ruby by Reid Stanton made it 8-0 in the second quarter.

The second touchdown was a long strike of 42 yards from Love to Stotler early in the fourth quarter.

Ludlowe is looking to get back to the Class L tournament for the third straight year after a disappointing end in last year’s quarterfinals. The Falcons were leading Cheshire 29-10 at halftime but after Love was knocked from the game with an injury, Cheshire came back to win 32-29.

“I don’t think there’s any player on the team that hasn’t thought about that every day of the year,” Love said. “We have it posted up in the locker room everywhere.”

Player of the game

Ryan Love, Ludlowe: The senior quarterback had 232 passing yards and a pair of touchdown passes while keeping the offense on the field for a huge possession advantage.

Quotable

“He’s a wonderful quarterback. I had some of my old Darien quarterbacks text me before the game and maybe they won’t love hearing it, but Ryan is the best quarterback I’ve had in 23 years. He’s really a special, special quarterback.” – Ludlowe coach Mitch Ross.

Ludlowe 15, Darien 0

LUDLOWE 0 8 0 7 – 15
DARIEN 0 0 0 0 – 0
L-Cole Stotler 9 pass from Ryan Love (Reid Stanton run)
L-Stotler 42 pass from Love (Nat Sollinger kick)
Records: Ludlowe 3-0, Darien 1-2

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This article originally published at Ludlowe football gets first win over Darien behind quarterback Ryan Love and defense.

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