- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Centaurs rally for
win in football
There were times Oct. 2 when things were looking pretty bleak for the Woodstock Academy football team. That’s what made its come-from-behind, 30-29, win over Waterford even more satisfying.
Battling illness, injury and fatigue, the Centaurs saw a 15-point lead they had built by the middle of the third quarter disappear.
Waterford quarterback Nathan Hynes darted his way through the exhausted Woodstock defense for a 65-yard score with 7 minutes, 21 seconds left to cut it to two, 23-21.
The Centaurs failed to move the ball on their next possession but tried to go for it on a fourth-and-11 from their own 28-yard line. Quarterback Ethan Davis’ pass fell incomplete.
It took the Lancers seven plays to find the end zone. Running back Justin Saad carried the ball in from three yards out and Waterford was suddenly up, 29-23.
“There were some dark moments,” said coach Sean Saucier. “That was the momentum swing that I didn’t know if we could recover from.”
The Centaurs were missing players like leading receiver Carter Saracina who had suffered an injury earlier in the half. Another receiver, Braiden Saucier, was cramping up and there were plenty more where that came from.
“We were a mess, I’m not going to sugar coat it,” saucier said. “(Offensive coordinator) Connor Elliott, God Bless him, was literally drawing up plays showing (the players), you do this and you do that. That last drive was sandlot football. We had guys out of position.”
But Woodstock still had Davis. Following the kickoff, the Centaurs started on their own 20. Two incomplete passes and a 5-yard run by Davis (12 carries, 76 yards) left the Centaurs with a 4th-and-5 at their own 25.
Left with no choice, the Centaurs had to go for it. Davis got enough time to look down field and saw Parker Anderson.
Anderson tipped it up in the air and back to himself and caught it at the Waterford 45-yard line. A pass to Jackson Goetz (6 catches, 121 yards) gained 12 more to the 33.
One incompletion to Goetz later, Davis (17-for-28 passing, 262 yards) again looked for his fellow senior.
“The (Waterford defender) didn’t really cover me at all until the last second so I had enough space to catch it,” Goetz said. Goetz caught it, his third touchdown of the game, with 1:06 to play. Goetz also hauled in a 42-yard touchdown pass late in the first half and another from 22 yards out early in the third quarter. With the scored tied Goetz kicked the extra points.
He had hit a 36-yard field goal in the third quarter but had also had an extra point blocked in the game.
The Centaurs (3-1, 2-0 ECC Div. II) stopped the Lancers in five plays and breathed a sigh of relief as they walked away with the win.
It’s something that four years ago, likely would not have happened, but a lot has changed.
“Insanely. It has changed a crazy amount since I was a freshman. I can’t describe it. It’s just dedication and hard work,” Davis said.
“What a day,” Saucier said. “It’s been a long journey with these kids, with this group. They came in as freshmen in my second year and we struggled at the varsity level at that time but they were fantastic at froshmore. This is a special kind of group, that once every 10 years kind of group.”
“We have to regroup, see what we have left, figure out Montville (Oct. 8) and then head into the bye week and try to get some guys healthy,” Saucier said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.