Football Wrap-up

Winning gridiron teams 

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to roll

By Ron P. Coderre

Rolling toward the Thanksgiving Day games and the postseason local high school and Prep schools are falling into two categories.  It’s amazing how half the teams are on track to post winning records while the other 50 percent will fall into the losing category.

Among the winners in the high school ranks, Plainfield High School and The Quinebaug Valley Pride posted impressive victories last week.  The Panthers rolled past Rhode Island foe Central Falls High School and The Pride playing at legendary Palmer Field bested host Vinal Tech/East Hampton/Goodwin Tech.

Killingly and Woodstock were dropped once again.  The Redmen lost another heartbreaker, this time to a determined Griswold High School eleven.  Woodstock was run over as it traveled to Waterford and was steamrolled by the Lancers.

Hyde-Woodstock, which features running back Jimmy Murphy, was in Maine playing its sister school Hyde-Bath and didn’t treat their hosts kindly.  The Wolfpack won easily.  Pomfret School squared off against traditional rival Westminster and lost as their fourth-quarter rally fell short.

Santerre Busts 

Through 1000-Point Barrier

The Quinebaug Valley Pride’s Raif Santerre soared to new heights this week in leading his team to a safe 20-6 victory over co-op program Vinal Tech/East Hampton/Goodwin Tech.  The victory put coach Joe Asermelly’s team over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 5-4 overall and 5-4 in the Constitution State Conference.

Santerre, needing 13 yards to get to the 1000-yard plateau, left no doubt that he would reach his goal as he burst through the Vinal defense for an astronomical 247 yards on 39 carries.  To call Santerre a workhorse is certainly an understatement.

After Kyle Loomis, who is becoming more of a receiving threat each week, opened the scoring in the second quarter with a 20-yard touchdown from “Chuckin” Charlie Innes, the second half became the Raif Santerre show.  After intermission “Santy” ran for a 39-yard touchdown in the third stanza. He closed out the scoring in the final period with a 2-yard burst to secure the victory.

The Pride defense was once again impressive in limiting Vinal to only a single score.  Spearheading the defense was Innes, who posted a key interception just before halftime and Jeremee Perez and Jacob Phaneuf who each had fumble recoveries for the hardnosed Pride defenders.

Innes was 3-for-6 in the air for 73 yards, with Loomis on the receiving end of two of the aerials for 45 yards and a touchdown.

Plainfield was on the road for the fifth week in succession.  The Panthers enjoyed a pleasant ride home from Central Falls after posting an easy 44-16 win thanks to another outstanding performance by quarterback Steve Jankowski.  The talented Jankowski threw for three touchdowns and ran to paydirt twice.  On the evening he was 6-for-11 for 83 yards and racked up 104 yards on the ground on only five carries.

Jankowski had touchdown tosses of 10 yards each to Tyler Ballard and Isaiah Fort to open the scoring in the first period.  Following a Central Falls score in the second quarter, Jankowski closed the first half scoring with a 59-yard scamper from scrimmage, giving Plainfield a 22-8 first half lead.

The play that was the determining factor in the Panther victory came on the opening kickoff of the second half when Jankowski took the pigskin on his own 48-yardline and raced 52 yards for a touchdown, electrifying the Plainfield rooters who were on hand.   In the third stanza he also found Cody Alday for a 33-yard TD reception.  Alday closed out the Plainfield scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run for the 7-1 Panthers.

Killingly & Woodstock Lose

Killingly can’t be faulted for not putting out effort but Killingly cannot seem to catch a break.  They were beaten this week by Griswold 24-18 as the Wolverines came from an 18-16 deficit to score the winning touchdown with 1:41 remaining on the clock.  The loss dropped Killingly to 1-8 on the season and 0-5 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

Griswold jumped out to a 16-0 halftime lead in the game, which was played on its home turf.  Killingly stormed out of the locker room after intermission following a Knute Rockne-like speech by coach Chad Neal, posting three consecutive touchdowns.  The tallies put them ahead by two points.  Hard-running Austin Caffrey had third and fourth-quarter touchdowns of one yard each.  Michael Elsey, who has been limited all season by injuries, scored the Redmen’s final TD on a 31-yard pass from signal caller Kyle Derosier.

Derosier had a good night, completing 16-of-22 passes for 216 yards and the TD to Elsey, who amassed 186 yards on 11 receptions.

Woodstock traveled to Waterford for a contest under the arcs, however it was the Lancers who shone in a 35-3 victory.  The lone Woodstock score came off the toe of Alden Brennan who booted 28-yard field goal in the second period.  The loss drops the Centaurs to 1-7 on the year.

Hyde-Woodstock Headed to Bowl Game?

In a family, sisters are supposed to get along.  Hyde-Woodstock football played its sister school Hyde-Bath in Maine and it’s not that they didn’t get along but the Wolfpack just wasn’t very nice to the hosts on the football field.  The Woodstock contingent, led by the ever-present Jimmy Murphy, easily beat its sister school 40-16.  The win just about assures the Wolfpack a bowl berth in the New England Prep Athletic Council football bowl game.

Murphy, who is a touchdown machine, had three scores to lead the way.  He opened the scoring with a 10-yard run that started a first period 20-point barrage.  Marcus Greenridge followed with a 41-yard tally and Harrison Smith closed the stanza with an 18-yard scamper.  “Murph” scored on a 22-yard run to give the Wolfpack a 27-0 advantage at intermission.

The versatile Murphy, who also had four point-after kicks, added an 80-yard electrifying run for a score in the third quarter.  Ethan Goldberg capped the Hyde-Woodstock scoring with a fourth period 20-yard touchdown on a pass from Smith.

Hyde-Woodstock raised its record to 7-1 thanks to Murphy’s day which ended with 141 yards from scrimmage.

Pomfret School closed out its gridiron season at 2-6 after falling on the road to Westminster School 22-16.  The Golden Griffins fell behind 22-0 before rallying for 16 fourth period points, which was too little too late.

The Griffs scored on a Darren Estrada 87-yard kickoff return and a 33-yard pass play from George Schmidt to Brendan Caffrey.  Josh Genovese added a pair of two-point conversion runs to round out the Pomfret scoring.

 

 

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