Football Wrap-up

Brookfield rolls

past Killingly 

in Class M semi

By Ron P. Coderre

The much anticipated CIAC Class M semifinal matchup between visiting Brookfield and host Killingly fell flat for the Redmen faithful.  In front of probably the largest crowd in the history of the new Killingly field, Brookfield rolled to a relatively easy 34-13 victory.

Even before the contest got underway things began to go badly for Killingly when the field lights experienced an electrical failure creating a 45-minute delay to the start of the game.  When the contest finally got underway the teams agreed to play despite the fact that an entire bank of lights was inoperable near one of the end zones.

As the teams lined up to begin the game it became obvious that it wasn’t only the field lights that had gone out.  Before Killingly knew what hit them, a rugged, hard hitting Brookfield defense turned off the lights on the Redmen offense taking a 17-0 lead at the end of the initial stanza.  The points came on the first of Dane Borges’ two field goals, when he easily cleared the crossbar from 38 yards out.  

The Bobcats vaunted running back Rob Drysdale (18-121) then proved he was for real when he scored on a five-yard run.  That score was followed by a Harrison Manesis (15-142) 26-yard touchdown scamper.  Borges closed out the Brookfield offensive onslaught with a 29-yard second quarter field goal that split the uprights.

Just prior to the conclusion of the first half the Redmen put some life into a previously listless crowd when quarterback Kyle Derosier found tight end Jake Gauthier in the end zone on a perfectly thrown 23-yard aerial connection.  At intermission the scoreboard read, Brookfield 20 – Killingly 7 and the Killingly faithful saw some light at the end of the victory tunnel.

The second half, however, proved just as frustrating for Killingly as the Bobcats scored two more touchdowns before Killingly would hit paydirt with only a few ticks remaining on the clock.  The Redman touchdown came on a Spencer Lockwood 32-yard run.

The key to the contest was Brookfield’s ability to shutdown Killingly’s one-two running tandem of Austin Caffrey and Lockwood.  Despite being keyed on by the Bobcat defense, Caffrey still managed 105 hard fought yards on 27 carries.  Lockwood totaled 61 yards on six carries.

The loss, though disappointing to Killingly, capped a highly successful season for coach Chad Neal’s charges.  The team closed out the season with a sparkling 10-2 record and a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division title.