Billy Seymour's late TD run lifts New Britain over Maloney in another rivalry thriller

Billy Seymour rushed for three touchdowns, including the 53-yard game winner, in New Britain's 21-20 CCC Tier 1 football victory over Maloney at Veterans Stadium in New Britain on Thursday night, Sept. 24, 2026. (Bryant Carpenter/Hearst Connecticut Media) NEW BRITAIN - We've seen enough New Britain-Maloney high school football in recent years to know that whenever these CCC rivals meet, there's going to be drama, no lead is safe and no one should go anywhere before the final horn sounds.

>Or, in the case of games at Veterans Stadium, the final cannon.

>On Thursday night, there were cannons to the left, cannons to the right, and into that valley rode Billy Seymour. The New Britain senior quarterback's three touchdown runs, the last coming with just over three minutes left after Maloney had rallied to take its first lead of the night, propelled the Golden Hurricanes to a 21-20 CCC Tier 1 victory over the Spartans.

>Even with Seymour's 53-yard score, capped by Jonathan Nunez's crucial extra point, New Britain had to hold its collective breath as Maloney got into position for a go-ahead field goal with 30 seconds left. The 36-yard attempt by Eli Osei was on target, but fell just short.

>And with that, New Britain, ranked No. 10 in the GametimeCT poll, rebounded from last week's 35-7 Alliance loss to No. 2 Greenwich and improved to 2-1. Maloney, stinging from its second straight loss after falling to No. 9 Ridgefield 50-36 last week, headed home at 1-2.

>The Spartans, though, showed grit, rallying from a 14-0 halftime deficit born of 79- and 8-yard touchdown runs by Seymour. Despite losing senior running back Devan Bacote to a season-ending knee injury last week, Maloney maintained possession for extended stretches Thursday behind senior QB Eli Showerda and backup RB Jaybriel Chacon.

>The Meriden squad finally broke through late in the third quarter when Showerda took a keeper 17 yards around right end.

>The veteran senior, coming off a school-record 422-yard passing performance last week against Ridgefield, stayed hot. He tossed a 2-yard TD pass to Joel Lopez on fourth down to even the score at 14-all with 7:30 to play.

>Then came Maloney's biggest defensive play of the night: a fumble recovery at the New Britain 32. Four plays later, from the 21, Showerda rolled right and hit Jaymeir Diaz in the back of the end zone.

>The extra-point attempt, however, was wide, and the Spartans still had 4:42 standing between them and victory. Seymour needed only a fraction of it, turning on the jets just as he had done on his 79-yard burst to open the scoring and going 53 yards down the right sideline.

>Nunez came on for the PAT and connected cleanly out of the hold of Kayden Centeno.

>Maloney still had three minutes, and Cayden Simonds Gaskins set his team up nicely with a return out to midfield. Facing fourth-and-5, Showerda moved the chains with a 12-yard pass to Jayden Soto.

>The Spartans eventually reached the red zone, but on a third-and-3 from the 16, with Showerda rolling right, New Britain defensive end Zion Calvin was able to run the Maloney QB out of bounds for a 3-yard loss.

>Only 30 seconds remained. Out came the field goal unit. Osei's kick was true. It was just, just short.

>It was the latest episode in a spirited rivalry that's emerged since New Britain and Maloney became foes in the top tier of the CCC. New Britain rallied from a 21-0 deficit to win 30-28 last year at Falcon Field. The 2024 meeting saw post-game turbulence after a 20-17 New Britain win at Veterans Stadium. Prior to that, Maloney dominated, rolling 31-6 in 2023 and 42-6 in 2021. Maloney leads the all-time series 14-13.

>This story will be updated

Player of the GameBilly Seymour, New Britain: The senior quarterback returned to the spotlight with touchdown runs of 79, 8 and 53 yards, the latter coming with 3:03 left to play.

Quotable"He wanted the ball in that situation. He said, 'Coach, I need the ball. I need ball. Give me the ball. Give me the ball!" - New Britain coach Isaiah Boddie on Billy Seymour.

New Britain 21, Maloney 20MALONEY         0 0 7 13-20 NEW BRITAIN  7 7 0 7-21 NB-Billy Seymour 79 run (Jonathan Nunez kick) NB-Seymour 8 run (Nunez kick) M-Eli Showerda 17 run (Eli Osei kick) M-Joel Lopez 2 pass from Showerda (Osei kick) M-Jameir Diaz 21 pass from Showerda (kick failed) NB-Seymour 53 run (Nunez kick) Team records: Maloney 1-2; New Britain 2-1.

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