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To go for the tie or the win. That was the dilemma facing Woodstock Academy football coach Sean Saucier Sept. 1 in a 21-20 loss to Norwich Free Academy.
With 46 seconds left, quarterback Ethan Davis hit Carter Saracina with a 14-yard pass to pull the Centaurs (1-1) within a point of the Wildcats.
Saucier elected to take the democratic route. “(The team) wanted to go for two (points), they all wanted to go for two. That’s what we do. We live and die by it together,” Saucier said.
A 5-yard penalty for an illegal substitution didn’t help as it backed up the Centaurs to the 8-yard line. So the Centaurs opened up their bag of tricks. Saracina took the handoff from Davis going from right to left across the formation. He flipped it to Braiden Saucier going in the opposite direction and Saucier passed it back to Davis.
The senior was stopped inside the 1-yard line, just inches from the goal line.
The game wasn’t over.
Woodstock was sitting on a roughing the passer penalty that occurred on the touchdown pass and it meant the Centaurs kicked off from the NFA 45-yard line.
Jackson Goetz attempted the bouncing onside kick and it was successful with Jacob Lizotte pouncing on the loose ball at the NFA 32.
But Woodstock moved 1 yard in reverse and on third down with time running out, Saucier elected to send running back Payton Barna (10 carries, 53 yards) up the middle to keep the ball in the middle of the field. Barna gained seven yards and Goetz came on to attempt a 42-yard field goal.
The attempt was blocked and NFA (1-1) was able to celebrate.
Woodstock took the early lead on a pretty daring play. Facing fourth and 14 on the 50-yard line, the Centaurs elected to run a play rather than punt. It worked to perfection.
Davis (22-for-30, 265 yards) heaved the ball downfield to Braiden Saucier. He caught it and fell into the end zone for the 7-0 lead.
NFA tied it up when quarterback Jayden Desilus (16-for-23, 172 yards) found Hunter Stadnicki for a 14-yard score.
But the Centaurs would go into the locker room with the 14-7 lead after Davis hit Saracina (11 catches, 153 yards) with a 44-yard bomb down the sidelines to the NFA 15-yard line.
Another pass to Jackson Goetz (9 catches, 62 yards) took the ball down to the three.
Saracina was thrown for a 1-yard loss on a jet sweep but it meant Davis (15 carries, 77 yards) just had to run four yards instead of three to give the Centaurs the 14-7 halftime lead.
A Woodstock turnover on its own 19 helped NFA pull within a point early in the third quarter. Four plays after the lost fumble, Desilus hit Jeremiah Capps with a 6-yard touchdown pass. The Wildcats took the lead for the first time in the game when Desilus capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 5-yard pass to running back Jake Kenney. It was the 2-point conversion pass to Maxson Pierre Louis that proved to be the game-winning play.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.