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The Woodstock Academy Centaurs football team’s defense was its normal stingy self.
The Centaurs, however, just couldn’t put enough points on the board and fell to the Baconter Nov. 9, 14-7.
“We battled,” said Woodstock Academy coach Sean Saucier. “Even when things were looking dim with three or four minutes to go, next thing you know, we were in position to tie the game. We showed a lot of physical toughness and they gave me everything they had.”
After giving up the ball on its own 36-yard line on do Centaurwns, the defense held.
The Bobcats went back 2 yards and were then hit with a personal foul that pushed them back even further to their own 46.
A 9-yard run by Terrance Gignac was not enough for a first down and Bacon Academy was forced to punt.
The snap, however, was low to punter Sean Baldyga and he was forced to run with the ball, going out at the Bacon Academy 49-yard line.
An incomplete pass was followed a 2-yard run for Ian Welz and another incomplete pass.
Somehow on fourth down, sophomore quarterback Ethan Davis kept Woodstock Academy’s hopes alive.
He found Luis Miranda (5 catches, 40 yards) for a first down at the Bacon Academy 25-yard line. But a holding call on the next play cost the Centaurs 16 yards. Three incomplete passes and a sack ended the Centaurs' hopes.
Woodstock Academy (6-2, 2-1 ECC Div. II) failed to get a first down in the first quarter, going three-and-out in their two possessions.
Bacon Academy did the same on its first but found the end zone on its second.
The Centaurs looked as if they had stopped the Bobcats without a first down again when quarterback Justin Kelsey ran for only seven yards on a third-and-17, but a late hit by Woodstock Academy on the play gave new life to Bacon at the Centaurs 32.
The Bobcats faced another fourth down three plays later, but Kelsey (7-for-15 passing, 55 yards) found Aidan Gallagher on the left sideline for the eight yards necessary for the first down. Kelsey then went back to Gallagher on the right for 17 more and Bacon Academy was in business at the Woodstock Academy 5-yard line.
Running back Jake Cavallo (17 carries, 88 yards) got four of those and his backfield mate, Terrance Gignac, got the last one to put Bacon up, 7-0, with 5:37 left in the first quarter.
That would still be the score at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
This time, it was a Bacon Academy penalty that helped Woodstock Academy.
A roughing the passer call on the final play of the third quarter gave the Centaurs a first down at the Bobcats’ 40.
Davis (8 carries, 68 yards) ran off 24 more to the 16-yard line and found Aidan Morin (3 catches 24 yards) for four more to the 12.
But a false start, a negative yardage running play an incomplete pass left the Centaurs with a fourth down on the Bacon 19.
In the back of the end zone, Miranda jumped over Kelsey and then tumbled over him on the way down, clutching the football the entire time for the game-tying score with 9:44 to play.
The Bobcats (6-2, 3-1), however, had the answer.
After hurting themselves with two penalties, Bacon Academy got down to the Woodstock Academy 28-yard line on a 14-yard pass from Kelsey to Luke LaSaracina.
An incomplete pass, however, had them staring at a third-and-7 when Kelsey threw a ball over the middle. The ball was knocked down by the Centaurs’ defense but pass interference was called, giving Bacon a first down at the Woodstock Academy 14.
Three runs and a penalty later and the Bobcats were knocking on the door at the 1-yard line. Kelsey, behind a double-wing formation, followed his center into the end zone for what proved to be the game-winning score with 4:30 left to play.
The Centaurs host the Lancers (7-1, 3-0) in an ECC Div. II game at the Bentley Athletic Complex at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 16.
Despite the loss to Bacon, a win over Waterford would create a three-way tie for the Div. II title between the Centaurs, Lancers and Bobcats.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy