​Berlin’s Noah Foster (25) celebrates his fourth quarter interception to seal the win against Wilton at Fujitani Field in Wilton Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Scott Ericson/Hearst Connecticut Media)
WILTON – Carrying a chip on its shoulder due to its first Connecticut High School Football Alliance game being on the road despite being a defending CIAC champion, the Berlin football team used the perceived slight as fuel Thursday night, grinding out a 13-6 defensive battle win against Wilton.Berlin’s Noah Foster made sure that motivation paid off, scoring both No. 7 Berlin touchdowns and hauling in two interceptions including the game-sealing pick in Wilton’s end zone with 20 seconds remaining.”Coach Cap was talking about it all week and we came out here with a chip and we most definitely came out here fired up,” Foster said. “Hour-thirty bus ride and we were locked in and dialed with that chip on our shoulder and we came here and balled out.”Following a Berlin fumble with just over three minutes left to play, Wilton drove down to the 9-yard line but Foster stopped the rally cold on third down with his second interception of the game, this one coming in the end zone.”This is a tremendous accomplishment for our program, our coaches and our players to go on the road as defending state champs and our kids came out and played tremendous,” Berlin coach John Capodice said. “It was a team effort all around. We played as a unit and we had to play 48 minutes and we treated this like a playoff game.”The first half was a defensive grind with neither team able to generate much in the way of offense.After a scoreless first quarter, Berlin opened the scoring on a 4-yard run by Noah Foster minutes into the second quarter.Wilton would answer on a 51-yard pass from Colton Smith to Sawyer Smith with 3:03 left to play in the half. Wilton went for the two-point conversion but the run was stopped.In the third quarter, Berlin cushioned its lead on a pass from wide receiver Anthony Frayler to Foster for a 66-yard touchdown. Berlin missed the extra point, keeping the lead at seven.Wilton had chances, including on the last drive but could not get consistent production from the offense.”Berlin is a tough team, but that wasn’t our best effort,” Wilton coach EJ DiNunzio said. “It’s not what you want to see in week two. Overall, too sloppy and we need to clean things up. We are a young team, we played a really good team and they were better than us.”Berlin, the defending Class M champion now playing in Class SS, moves to 2-0 while Wilton drops to 1-1.Berlin hosts South Windsor next Friday at 6:30 p.m. while Wilton will play at Westhill next Saturday at 4 p.m.Player of the GameNoah Foster, Berlin:Two interceptions, a rushing touchdown of 4 yards and 66-yard touchdown reception was all the Redcoats needed in this one.Quotable”I can’t say I have played a game like that before, that was incredible. It wasn’t just me, this was a huge team win for the guys. We made the plays when w