Football wrap-up

Big victories

highlight

football 

weekend

By Ron P. Coderre

It was somewhat of a miraculous weekend for three local high school football teams as they recorded victories that were more than significant in the big picture for the local fandom.

Plainfield High School off to the best start of all area teams recorded a huge come from behind win over the New London Whalers, a team they have very seldom been able to compete with over the years.  Woodstock Academy posted a W for the first time in nearly two years on the gridiron.  W was a letter that the Centaurs had almost forgotten existed.  And finally, Killingly, thirsting to get into the win column threw its offense into high gear in beating visiting Robert E. Fitch of Groton.

Unfortunately Quinebaug Valley Pride and Pomfret School are still winless as the Pride was dropped by Cheney Tech and the Griffins were shutout by Tabor Academy.  Following an opening season victory, Hyde-Woodstock was unable to stand prosperity and lost a heartbreaker to New Hampton School.

Melee Disrupts Plainfield Win

Plainfield had very little time to enjoy its 21-17 win over New London, when a physical brawl broke out between some over exuberant Panther fans and members of the Whalers football team.  According to reports, the Panther fans were former football players who had never beaten New London during their high school days and took the opportunity to engage in taunting the Whalers throughout the entire contest.

On the field however, the Plainfield footballers stuck to their mission and employed a rarely used play, the hook and ladder, to capture the victory in the final 1:06 of the game.  Quarterback Steve Jankowski hit Alex Gaudreau with a short 4-yard pass and the tight end flip the ball to a speeding Jordan Federer who took the pigskin to the NL 30-yard line.  Jankowski then hit wide receiver Cody Alday with the game-winning pass with 42 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Panthers were down 17-6 when all the excitement occurred.  Jankowski (15-21-262) hit a pair of 30 yard passes to Isiah Fort and Tyler Ballard and Federer (13 carries for 97 yards) picked up important yardage to keep the winning drive alive.

In addition to the game winning toss, Jankowski also had a 4-yard scoring pass to Gaudreau earlier.  The victory lifted Plainfield to 3-0 on the season.

Acads End Two-Year Drought

Woodstock Academy employed a solid second half performance, in which they outscored St. Bernard/Norwich Tech 21-6 to roll to its first victory since Oct. 28, 2011, 35-14 over the Saints much to the jubilation of the hometown fans.

Holden Cote was the big gun in the Centaur offense rushing for four touchdowns and a two-point conversion.  After falling behind 8-0 Woodstock rallied behind Cote as he scored on a 6-yard run, followed by a 2-yard plunge to give the Acads an unusual halftime advantage of 14-8.

Cote got the second half off on a positive note, scoring the only touchdown of the third stanza on a 29-yard run.  After Kameron Janice opened the fourth period scoring with a six-yard tally, Cote closed out the Woodstock scoring with a 16-yard TD burst.

Cote was the game’s top rusher with 192 yards on 27 carries.  Janice had 94 yards on 21 carries and quarterback Trent Appleton was 11-78.  The win not only lifts the spirits of coach Clay Killingsworth’s Centaurs but it also puts them a 1-2 and 1-0 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division.

Killingly Outlasts Fitch in High-Scoring Affair

Killingly jumped out to a 32-7 first half advantage over Fitch High School and played the visitors even in the second half to walk off with a high scoring 53-28 victory over the Falcons.

Freshman Spencer Lockwood was the early catalyst in the win, scoring the first two touchdowns for the Redmen.  He crossed into pay dirt with runs of eight and 12 yards.  His play inspired Killingly’s leader Michael Elsey, who shocked the crowd with a 90-yard kickoff return and a 3-yard touchdown burst.

Chace Wood closed out the first half scoring when he tallied on a 34-yard option pass from Vasileous Politis.  Wood, eager to prove himself, opened the second half scoring when he was on the receiving end of a 10-yard pass from quarterback Kyle Derosier.  Tyler LeSage and Dimitri Key closed out the scoring for Killingly with touchdown runs.  Lesage on an 18-yard punt return and Key on a 17-yard run.

Elsey with 104 yards on 22 carries was the Redmen’s top ground gainer and receiver, as he amassed 114 yards in the air on six receptions.  Signal caller Derosier enjoyed another fine game under center, hitting 11 of 19 passing attempts for 177 yards for 1-2 Killingly.

Wins Hard to Come by for Pride, Wolfpack and Griffins

Hyde-Woodstock battled a rugged New Hampton team but was unable to score when a late opportunity presented itself and fell to 1-1 as it was edged 17-12.  All of the scoring in the game occurred in the first half.

Dexter Thompson scored both touchdowns for the Wolfpack, the first on a 55-yard pass-run play from quarterback Marcus Greenridge, which put the home team up 6-0.  Trailing 7-6 in the second quarter, the Greenridge to Thompson hookup struck again putting Hyde-Woodstock on top.  This time the duo was responsible for a 64-yard scoring play.  Unfortunately coach Sean Saucier’s team was unable to take advantage of second half chances and fell to 1-1 with the loss.

Pomfret School, despite 98 yards from running back Emanuel Calmar, was beaten by Tabor Academy 20-0.  The loss drops the Griffins to 0-2 on the season.

Quinebaug Valley Pride jumped out to a 7-0 lead over Cheney Tech on a Raif Santerre 7-yard touchdown scamper but was shutout the remainder of the way, losing 20-7.  Santerre was the lone bright spot for the Pride with 119 yards on 28 carries.  The Pride is now 0-3 on the year.