By Michael Letendre

HARTFORD – With the game hanging in the balance and the Hartford Public football team stuck on Bristol Central’s 25 yard line, it would take one final stop by the Rams to propel the program to a fourth straight victory on Saturday.

With 11.1 seconds to play and Central leading by just four points, Owls’ quarterback Christian Garcia took the ball, scampered around a bit and then made a desperate sprint for the end zone.

He eluded several Central tacklers, nearly got to the end zone but just as he crossed the five, Victor Rosa and Justin Despins combined to make the game-winning tackle – just two yards short from scoring the game-winning touchdown – as the Rams’ nabbed an incredible 52-48 victory from Hartford Public high school.

“Well, we wanted to be 4-1 coming out of here at the halfway point and we are,” said Central coach Jeff Papazian. “I just said to the kids I’m proud of the way they played today and kept battling out there.”

Public (2-3) lost its third straight contest while the Rams are currently sixth in the Class L playoff standings.

The showdown was an incredible offensive sight to see, with the programs combining to score 100 points, while the defensive coordinators from both teams needed extra Pepto Bismol after the game.

Rosa scooped up a combined 363 yards in offense all by himself despite suffering an injury midway through the game which took the senior off the gridiron for a defensive set or two.

He made 22 rushes for 252 yards and four touchdowns and when he wasn’t able to run at full strength, he connected on 4-of-5 passes for 111 yards for a touchdown as well. 

“We picked our spots with Victor and he battled through as well,” said Papazian.

And when Rosa was handing off the ball instead of churning up yardage,  teammates Tre Blair (seven rushes, 77 yards; four catches, 111 yards) and Justin Despins (14 carries, 108 yards) were absolutely tremendous in Central’s offensive schemes. 

“Those guys are capable,” said Papazian of Blair and Despins. “Tre had two huge catches and a bunch of big runs on jet sweep. And Despins is one of the hardest workers we’ve got. He’s a tough inside runner to complement our perimeter game and I was glad he got the opportunities today.”

Garcia was on another level at times, shaking and baking for the full 48 minutes for 223 yards passing (10-of-19) while making 23 hard runs for 176 yards to single-handily keep his team in the game – gaining just a hair under 400 yards in total offense.

“The kid’s a good player,” said Papazian of Garcia. “It’s hard to prepare for him. How do you prep that with your younger kids on the scout team? We’ve got a lot of work to do on that end for sure. Obviously, part of our plan was to keep him contained and we didn’t get the job done. He won’t be the last athletic quarterback we’ll see this year. We’ve got to keep working on it. [Garcia’s] a really good player.”

The final combined offensive numbers saw the teams nearly amass 1,000 yards – coming up about 50 yards short of that epic total.

After taking the initial lead, Central saw Public tie up the contest twice midway through the first half but the visitors snared a 24-16 edge with 3:29 to go before the half and never looked back – hanging on until the end.

The Rams forced the Owls to punt off their first drive and when Rosa nabbed a 14 yard TD rush, his pass to Blair for two gave Central an 8-0 lead with 6:17 left in the first.

On the ensuing drive, Garcia found Jordan Knight for a TD and off the two-point conversion, it was an 8-8 game with 1:37 left in the frame.

It was 8-8 to open the second period as Central scored three times in the frame.

Rosa slipped in the first one off a two yard touchdown jaunt and even when Garcia matched that scored with a two yard TD rush of his own – making it a 16-16 game with 7:12 left in the half – the Rams weren’t done on the scoreboard.

Despins cashed in on a 12 yard touchdown run, Central’s defense then induced a punt, and when Rosa found Blair for a pretty 38 TD strike – coupled by a two-point conversion pass from Rosa to Anthony Paulino –  the Rams’ lead reached 32-16 with twenty-seconds left in the second quarter.

However, it took one play from the Owls to get eight of those points back when Garcia found Traiquan Hodge for an on-the-money 48 yard touchdown reception and with 12 seconds left before the break, the home outfit trailed just 32-24.

The third tilt was just as busy as Despins made a two-yard jaunt into the end zone, Garcia answered it with a four yard plunge of his own, but when Rosa dashed straight into the goal for a 15 yard TD run, a two-point conversion by Despins propelled Central to a 46-32 lead with 2:51 left in the quarter.

The Owls were threatening to open the fourth and needed just eight seconds to score with Garcia charging in for a 16 yard touchdown run and with 11:52 left to play, Public trailed 46-40.

Central then put together a dozen play drive, surviving a 3-and-26 situation, broke through for a tough 25 yard touchdown rush by Rosa but the two-point run failed as the Rams held a 52-40 edge with 3:07 left.

But the Owls refused to yield and needed just about 2:30 to score once more.

This time, Public marched down the field and saw Garcia glide into the end zone off a four yard run and with 43 seconds left – off the two point conversion – the Owls closed the deficit to 52-48.

And then Public went for an onside kick, somehow got the ball back off the gambit and with 40.6 seconds to play, the Owls had four shots at stealing the game away from the Rams.

Public ended up at Central’s 25 with 11.1 seconds left in regulation before Garcia made his mad dash in an attempt to win the game.

But Rosa and Despins held the fort, stopped Garcia at the two yard line with no time left, as Central survived to snare a 52-48 win on the road.

“They were [two] yards short,” said Papazian. “And credit our guys who kept playing. Like I said, it’s hard. You know what’s going to happen and [Garcia] is a real good player. Thankfully, he came up short.”

“For that game to end on a big defensive stop is kind of wild.” 

Bristol Central Football

BRISTOL CENTRAL 52, HARTFORD PUBLIC 48

from Hartford Public high school

Bristol Central (4-1) 8 24 14 6 – 52 

Hartford Public 8 16 8 16 – 48

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

BC – Victor Rosa 14 run (Tre Blair pass from Rosa) 6:17

HP – Jordan Knight 6 pass from Christian Garcia (Traiquan Hodge pass from Garcia), 1:37

Second Quarter

BC – Rosa 2 run (Rosa run), 9:00

HP – Garcia 2 run (Eli Perry pass from Garcia), 7:12

BC – Justin Despins 12 run (Tre Blair run), 3:27

BC – Blair 38 pass from Rosa (Anthony Paulino pass from Rosa),

0:20

HP – Hodge 48 pass from Garcia (Garcia run), 0:12

Third Quarter

BC – Despins 2 run (run failed), 9:46

HP – Garcia 4 run (Garcia run), 4:37

BC – Rosa 15 run (Despins run), 2:51

Fourth Quarter

HP – Garcia, 16 run (Jaheim Cole pass from Garcia), 11:52

BC – Rosa 25 run (run failed), 3:07

HP – Garcia 4 run (Perry pass from Garcia), 0:43

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Passing – Bristol Central: Victor Rosa 4-for-5, 111 yards; Hartford Public: Christian Garcia 10-for-19, 223 yards.

Rushing – Bristol Central: Rosa 22-252, Tre Blair 7-77, Justin Despins 14-108; Hartford Public: Eric Williams 6-10, Garcia 23-176, Tasane Roach 1-3, Jordan Knight 1-8.

Receiving – Bristol Central: Tre Blair 4-111; Hartford Public – Jaheim Cole 4-106, Traiquan Hodge 2-63, Knight 3-35, Williams 1-19.

Class L Playoff Standings – Top eight teams

Team/Rank Record Points Pts. Avg. Next Opponent

St. Joseph (#1) 4-0 620 155.55 vs. Greenwich

Cheney Tech (#2) 4-0 545 136.25 at Wilcox/Kaynor

Thames River (#3) 4-0 545 136.25 vs. VG Techs

Maloney (#4) 4-1 655 131.00 at Xavier 

Quinebaug (#5) 4-0 515 128.75 vs. Platt Tech

Bristol Central (#6) 4-1 605 121.00 vs. Tolland

Windsor (#7) 4-1 590 118.00 vs. Simsbury

Cheshire (#8) 3-1 470 117.50 vs. Xavier