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Looking
Woodstock Academy quarterback Ethan Davis (14) looks down field while running back Payton Barna awaits a possible pitch from Davis during the Thanksgiving Day game at Killingly.
Coming
Through
Woodstock Academy quarterback Ethan Davis (14)rushed for 21 yards in five carries in the Academy's loss to Killingly in the Thanksgiving Day game between the two at Killingly High School. Photos by Marc Allard.
Things were looking pretty good for Woodstock Academy at the beginning of the second half of its Thanksgiving Day game.
Down by seven at halftime, the Centaurs attempted an onside kick to open the second half.
It didn’t work as Killingly recovered the football at midfield.
On the next play, Killingly quarterback Thomas Dreibholz was hit as he threw the football causing it to go just a bit off target and into the arms of Woodstock Academy defensive back Carter Saracina.
The junior took it 53 yards down the Killingly sideline to tie the game.
“We were right there,” said coach Sean Saucier.
Unfortunately, that’s where the good news stopped. “They made some pass plays and that was the difference,” Saucier added.
Killingly (9-0) scored the last five touchdowns of the game to post a 49-14 win over the Centaurs.
The turning point came just after the Saracina score.
Killingly got the ball back on their own 14 and, after the Centaurs stopped Killingly running back Jack Sharpe (29 carries, 111 yards) for a 1-yard loss, Dreibholz stepped back to throw again.
His pass to receiver Ben Jax was a bit underthrown but, in this case, that turned out to be a positive.
Jax came back to get the ball, pivoted around near midfield, and outraced the Centaurs defensive backs to the end zone to complete an 87-yard pass play and put Killingly back up, 21-14.
Woodstock tried to answer.
A holding penalty hurt the Centaurs but two passes from Ethan Davis (13-for-21, 170 yards), one to River Favreau (4 catches, 43 yards) for 6 yards and another to Parker Anderson for eight, put Woodstock Academy into a fourth-and-two at the Killingly 49.
The Centaurs opted to go for it and Davis (5 carries, 21 yards) took the football himself but was stopped a yard short.
Killingly marched back down the short field and six plays later, running back Soren Rief went in from 6 yards out to give Killingly a two-touchdown cushion.
“That was probably the turning point. Once they got some momentum, it was tough to slow it down,” Saucier said.
Dreibholz, who passed for 267 yards, connected with fellow junior Jax and senior Nate Keefe on a pair of 12-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.
Rief added a 9-yard run with 2:24 left to account for the final.
It was the first Thanksgiving Day meeting between the two local rivals since 2017.
A good crowd was on hand to watch the contest on a beautiful fall day and they were treated to a close game early.
The Centaurs were forced to punt on their first possession, pushing Killingly back to its own 12-yard line.
Driving on the ground, Killingly used up 14 plays and almost seven minutes to get down to the Woodstock 22-yard line.
But the drive stalled on a fourth-and-2 when a fumbled snap turned the ball back over to the Centaurs on their own 24.
Davis rushed 3 yards and then completed a 13-yard pass to Jackson Goetz (4 catches, 38 yards) to the Centaurs 40.
Davis looked downfield longer on his next pass, but the ball ended up in Jax’s hands rather than that of intended receiver Braiden Saucier.
Killingly would get on the board first, but it took a little while.
It got the ball back on its own 32 following the Jax interception and got it to the Woodstock 40 before it began a slow trek backwards.
Defensive end Huck Flanagan made a couple of nice plays in a row as he stopped Sharpe 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage and then sacked Dreibholz for a loss of eight more.
A delay of game call against Killingly put the ball back on its own 44.
But was Jax who had the answer again. On a double pass, the receiver looked downfield and threw to Noah Colangelo for a 37-yard pass to the Woodstock Academy 19. The Centaurs were also flagged for a roughing the passer call on the play which moved the ball 10 yards closer to the goal line.
After a running play was stopped a yard back of the line, Dreibholz found Rief in the flat and he scored for a 7-0 Killingly lead with 7 minutes, 13 seconds to play in the half.
But Woodstock didn’t put its collective heads down. Instead, the Centaurs answered the Killingly score.
After a couple of short gains, Davis scrambled and found Saracina (3 catches, 52 yards) down the sideline for 45 yards to the Killingly 33.
Two runs and a short pass later, the Centaurs were at the Killingly 29. But running back Payton Barna slipped out of the backfield and found a seam in the Killingly defense, Davis found him with a pass and Barna went the distance to tie the game.
Killingly went up by seven on its next possession on an 18-yard pass from Dreibholz to Jax (5 catches, 184 yards).
The Centaurs almost found some more points before halftime as Davis found Goetz for 16 yards, Favreau for 19 and ran 15 yards on his own to the Killingly 23.
But with time running out, the Centaurs were forced to attempt a 32-yard field goal which failed when the ball was not put down cleanly.
The Woodstock defense did deserve credit as it limited Killingly’s dominant rushing game to 176 yards on the ground.
Killingly averaged almost 100 yards per game more than that in its first eight games.
“I thought we did a nice job slowing down the run,” Saucier said. “If you would have told me earlier (on Thursday) that we would have been beaten by the pass instead of the run, I would have called you crazy. That’s kind of what happened.”
The Centaurs earned the respect of Killingly coach Chad Neal.
“They’re the best team we’ve played,” Neal said. “They were prepared for us. They’re well-coached. Sean and I go back 30-something years and we knew they would be our toughest opponent.”
The loss ended Woodstock’s season at 7-3.
“I’m happy. The kids had a great season, I enjoyed every minute of it and I think they did, too,” Saucier said.
All-Stars
Several Woodstock football players were named ECC Div. II All-Stars.
Ethan Davis, Everett Michalski, Carter Saracina and Jackson Goetz earned that distinction on the offensive side of the ball.
Huck Flanagan, Evan Roy and Silas Strandson were named Div. II All-Stars on the defensive side.
Wyatt Thienel was named the top kicker.
Braiden Saucier received honorable mention honors as a utility player.
Keenan LaMontagne was the team’s ECC Scholar-Athlete and River Favreau was the ECC Sportsmanship Award recipient.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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