By Ron P. Coderre

The big news in high school football last week occurred unfortunately off the gridiron and not on the football turf.  The news involves the Plainfield Panthers.  Due to an ongoing investigation the Plainfield school administration cancelled the scheduled game for Friday against Waterford, handing the Lancers a 1-0 forfeit victory.  The loss drops Plainfield to 3-3 on the season.

According to reports from radio, television and several newspaper sources, some members of the Plainfield football team were involved in an inappropriate cyber activity that’s escalated over time since the news became public.  The matter, containing sexually explicit photographs, initially was handled internally by the school administration but has since been placed in the hands of the Plainfield Police Department.  The situation precipitated the cancellation of the Waterford contest by the Plainfield school administration.

As the investigation continues, the future of the next few Panther games is in limbo.  The team is scheduled to play at New London on Oct. 30.  Its next home contest is at home on Nov. 6 versus Stonington.

In action on the field the Killingly Redmen continue to make news as they surge through the schedule.  After losing its first game of the season to Griswold, in what was considered an upset, the Redmen have put together an impressive five-game winning streak.  The team’s latest victim was New London as Killingly disposed of the Whalers in a home game 35-13.

Woodstock following its first victory of the season, a 35-14 win over Vinal Tech/East Hampton/Goodwin Tech last week, fell hard to East Lyme 42-7.

The Quinebaug Valley Pride played toe-to-toe with Constitution State Conference foe Thames River Crusaders but let the game slip away late, losing 36-22.

In the prep ranks, Pomfret School and Hyde School-Woodstock were on the road and had long treks home.  The Hyde Wolfpack was dropped by Tilton School of New Hampshire, while Pomfret, looking for its first win lost to Pingree School in Massachusetts.

Redmen Romp

Following a scoreless first quarter in its game against New London, coach Chad Neal’s Killingly Redmen opened up its ground and air assault in the second quarter scoring 21 points to take a 21-7 advantage to the locker room at halftime, on their way to a 35-13 victory over the Whalers.  It was the first time Killingly’s defeated New London since way back in 2003.

Running back Spencer Lockwood opened the scoring for Killingly with a 6-yard bolt for the first touchdown of the game.  His score was followed by a Luke Desaulnier point-after kick, giving Killingly a short lived 7-0 advantage.

New London then tallied to knot the score and shifted its defensive strategy to containing Killingly’s powerful running tandem of Lockwood and Austin Caffrey.  At this juncture the Redmen put their fate in the hands of signal caller Kyle Derosier and their air-game.  Derosier responded magnificently.

First he found his favorite receiver Vasileios Politis with a 24-yard aerial toss for a touchdown.  Then just prior to the end of the half he again found Politis with a picture perfect pass, this time for 24-yards and another TD.

In the third stanza Derosier hooked up with Chace Wood on a 15-yard scoring connection.  The Redmen closed out the scoring when Lockwood once again found pay dirt on a 14-yard run.  Desaulnier was a perfect five-for-five on his point-after kicks.

Derosier had his best day of the season, going 5-9 for 119 yards and three touchdowns.  The one-two punch of Caffrey and Lockwood accounted for 309 yards on the ground.  Caffrey totaled 176 yards on 25 carries and Lockwood 133 yards also on 25 carries.  Politis had three catches for 84 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The victory raises Killingly’s record to 5-1 on the season as it prepares for a road game in Stonington on Friday at 6:30 p.m. under the arcs.

Vikings Drop Centaurs

After posting its first win of the season last week against Constitution State Conference opponent  Vinal Tech/East Hampton/Goodwin Tech, Woodstock stepped back into the Eastern Connecticut Conference for a contest on the road in East Lyme.  The results East Lyme 42 – Woodstock 7.

In picking up their second win of the season the Vikings dominated both sides of the line.  The loss drops Woodstock to 1-5 on the season.  The road to victory doesn’t get any easier for the Acads as next week they square off against a rugged defensive minded 3 -2 Montville team.

Crusaders Capture CSC Battle with Pride

After playing more than 40 minutes against Thames River Crusaders in a game they could have won the Quinebaug Valley Pride stood helpless as the host dominated the final five minutes of the game.  The Prides inability to stop the Crusaders late in the contest resulted in a 36-22 loss, dropping them to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the CSC East Division.

The Pride’s Jeremee Perez enjoyed a big day, rushing for a pair of touchdowns and five point-after points.  Perez carried the pigskin 22 times for 137 yards in a blue collar-type performance and accounted for 17 of the Pride’s 22 points.  He opened the scoring in the game with a 1-yard plunge and closed out the half with a 3-yard score as the teams went into halftime tied at 14 apiece.

After Sebastian Ruiz recovered a fourth quarter Crusaders’ fumble and ran it in from 22-yards out the roof caved in on the Pride.  The defense was helpless as the Crusaders scored 14 unanswered points in the final five minutes of the contest.

Hyde-Woodstock Stumbles 

in New Hampshire

After opening the season with a pair of convincing victories, Hyde School-Woodstock fell for the second time in a row, falling to 2-2 on the season.  The Wolfpack lost 26-16 to Tilton School after losing the previous week 30-14 to Pingree School.

Jordan Burney with a three-yard touchdown and a 65-yard kickoff return was the lone bright spot for coach Sean Saucier.  Burney amassed 97 yards on 14 carries in the loss.

Pomfret Still 

in Search of Elusive

First Winn

Despite a 171-yard rushing performance on 20 carries by running back Papa Sekyere, the Pomfret Griffins fell to 0-5 on the season as they were beaten 42-14 by Pingree School.  Pomfret, which lost the previous week 60-16 at the hands of Kingswood-Oxford, also had a touchdown from Jack Paulson.  He scored on a 20-yard pass connection with quarterback H.P. Wackerman.

 

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