Junior Joey Montalvo does it all for this undefeated CT high school football team

MANCHESTER – Joey Montalvo touched the football only seven times Thursday night. He had one receiving yard.

But he scored all four of East Catholic’ s touchdowns.

“Two were rushing touchdowns, one was the kick return and one, he threw a touchdown,” said East Catholic football coach Tommy Seaver, “and he had an interception.

“I gotta get him the ball a little more than seven times.”

Seaver laughed. Normally he does, but it was just the way the CCC Tier IV game against Tolland (3-1) went Thursday night. East Catholic (4-0) won 27-20 and held off Tolland twice on fourth down late in the game, with sophomore Nicholas Galatie picking off Tolland quarterback Ryan Caminiti in the end zone on the final play of the game.

“I would call him a receiver, but he will play wherever for us,” Seaver said of Montalvo. “He plays running back, he threw the ball (Thursday) night – he could probably play quarterback if I asked him to.”

Montalvo, a junior, scored on an option play on a pitch from quarterback Christian Morales two minutes into the game from the 12-yard line. But Tolland went ahead with three touchdowns in the half, its third with 15.8 seconds left before halftime, boosting the lead to 20-7.

On the next play, Montalvo got the kickoff return and ran it 83 yards for a touchdown to reverse the momentum and send East Catholic into halftime trailing 20-14.

“We just needed something big before halftime,” Montalvo said. “We prepared for it all week and we came up big.

“We have a play: the two outside defenders block outside and everyone else pushes in and it creates a little hole for me.”

Montalvo started off the second half with an interception then took a pitch from Morales and hit Andrew DeLaura with a 27-yard touchdown pass. Morales’ kick was good and East Catholic led 21-20.

East Catholic ran the same option play it did in the first quarter toward the end of the third quarter and there was Montalvo scoring another touchdown, this one from 41 yards out.

“We’ve been running (the option) since last year,” Montalvo said. “It’s pretty good.”

Last year, Montalvo racked up 780 receiving yards and had nine touchdowns – and he only played in six games due to an injury. Against Plainville, he had 348 yards, the third most in a game in state history.

He had 639 receiving yards as a freshman with five touchdowns and defensively, he had five interceptions.

This season, he already has 527 yards and seven touchdowns in four games.

“I think it’s a combination of everything,” Seaver said. “He’s very quick but he also is agile where he knows how to fake one way and go the other and understands the game enough to realize what the defender’s going to see and try to get him to get in the position he wants the defender to be in so he can make a play.

“I think it’s a combination of his athleticism and speed and the football knowledge puts him over the top.”

Last year, when Montalvo was out, East Catholic didn’t win. When he came back, they won again.

“He’s a great kid, works hard in silence, doesn’t show off too much at practice, doesn’t talk about stats,” Seaver said. “He just goes out and plays.

“As a freshman, he was just out there playing and wasn’t much of a leader for us, but he’s turned into more of a leader the last year and especially this year.”