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By Ron P. Coderre
The local football season is quickly rolling toward its Thanksgiving Day and postseason conclusion. Two area teams continue to make a bid to play beyond Turkey Day, as Quinebaug Pride and Hyde-Woodstock posted victories maintaining slim chances of playing for State and League titles.
Pomfret School, which this year played an abbreviated eight-game schedule, closed its season on a positive note while Plainfield made it three-for-three over schools from Rhode Island with a victory over Central Falls. Killingly continued its up-and-down season, losing big to Norwich Free Academy. Woodstock picked up a moral victory, losing to Fitch 28-6.
Quinebaug Pride extended its winning streak to five games with a 27-0 shutout victory over visiting Platt Tech. The Pride jumped out to a first quarter 14-0 lead thanks to its one-two punch of Jon Sanderson and Raif Santerre who tallied touchdowns of eight and seven yards respectively. On the day,
Sanderson posted 122 yards on 21 carries and his counterpart Santerre recorded 142 yards on 23 carries to lead the way. The Pride of coach Joe Asermelly is now 7-2 after starting the season at 2-2.
Hyde-Woodstock entertained its sister school Hyde-Bath (Maine) but showed no mercy defeating the visitors 26-14. Kyle Jordan paced coach Sean Saucier’s Wolfpack running for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The win raises Hyde’s overall record to 6-2 and 6-1 in the Evergreen League.
In Pomfret, the Griffins of coach Henry Large concluded their season on a winning note, besting visiting Westminster 34-7. After falling behind 7-0 in the first stanza, the remainder of the contest belonged to Pomfret as it ran off a string of 34 unanswered points. Austin Jones led the way with two touchdowns, both on runs of five yards. Pomfret concludes its season at 4-4 overall and in the Colonial League.
Plainfield erupted for 29-first quarter points in rolling past Central Falls, Rhode Island 46-6 in Central Village. Junior quarterback Steve Jankowski delighted a large Homecoming crowd, passing for 116 yards and three touchdowns. Plainfield raised its record to 4-4 after a clean sweep of three Rhode Island teams. In addition to the Central Falls victory coach Pat Smith’s Panthers earlier defeated North Providence and North Smithfield.
Killingly journeyed down Rt. 395 to Norwich for a Friday game under temporary lights and had its lights turned out by the Wildcats 56-12. The Redmen were entertained by the Marcus Outlow show as the Division I college-bound running back had his best game of the season for NFA running for three touchdowns and 260 yards on 18 carries. The loss drops Killingly to 4-5 overall.
Woodstock though never in the game made Fitch play all four quarters losing 28-6. Following a scoreless first quarter, Fitch scored 21 unanswered points before Woodstock’s Billy Harrington scored on a one-yard plunge. The Centaurs are 0-9 overall and 0-2 in the ECC Small Division.
Extra Points…
A pair of Pomfret School seniors, Chappy Paul and Noah Van Dyke recorded their first career touchdowns in the win over Westminster…The Hyde-Woodstock Wolfpack has to play a waiting game following its win over Hyde-Bath. The team will find out this week if it receives a bowl bid from the New England Prep School Athletic Council…Quinebaug Pride remains the only local high school in the running for State Tournament play. Last week’s CIAC rankings had the team in 8th place just ahead of Stonington. Both teams won this week, but the strength of schedule may have an effect on the standings…Trent Appleton started at quarterback this week for Woodstock and was 4-5 for 39 yards passing prior to getting injured attempting to block an extra point kick…Quinebaug Pride’s trio of Tylor Genest, Raif Santerre and Jon Sanderson continue their assault on the scoring and rushing lead for the area. Genest, who has scored in every game this season, is the area scoring leader with 88 points. He also has 447 yards rushing. Sanderson and Santeerre have a combined 1767 yards on the season. Santerre, who has 80 points and is second in the scoring race, has 876 yards on the ground while Sanderson has 891. Both have a great shot at 1000-yard seasons with two games remaining…In the win over Platt Tech, Quinebaug Pride allowed only 61 yards of total offense to the visitors…The Pride has a talented toe in the person of kicker Connor Pion…This week’s upcoming schedule includes Bullard Havens at Quinebaug Pride (6:30 p.m.) on Friday. Saturday has Plainfield at Woodstock in a noon start.
Putnam Town Crier Super Standings: Quinebaug Pride – 7-2; Hyde-Woodstock – 6-2; Plainfield – 4-4; Pomfret School – 4-4; Killingly – 4-5; Woodstock Academy – 0-9.