By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern football team made a huge, late stop in the fourth quarter against South Windsor on Friday night – swiping up a fumble and later turning it into a touchdown with 3:55 to play – eventually forcing overtime in a winner-take-all fifth and final frame.

The Lancers scored seven points to open OT but the Bobcats answered with a touchdown and then fill-in quarterback Tyron Casey ran the ball into the end zone for the winning two-point conversion as South Windsor nabbed a 23-22 victory from Alumni Field in Bristol.

“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius of his squad. “We went down swinging. It was a really good high school football game. Both teams are tough-nosed teams. It came down to the wire like a lot of our games have this year and unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of things tonight.”

Casey, who came into the contest with just nine carries on the season for 53 yards, did yeoman’s work as the fill-in QB against the Lancers – connecting on 10-of-16 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

He also made 20 carries for 95 yards and a TD as South Windsor (5-2) has won five straight games since getting shutout by Bristol Central in week 2 of the season (21-0).

“He’s a really good player,” said Julius. “He’s a really good athlete. He’s a big kid. He runs the ball hard. He threw the ball well. He was a difference-maker for them tonight.”

But it was a challenge for Eastern just to get to the overtime frame as the home program turned the ball over on downs at the completion of the third quarter with the visitors ahead 15-8 – looking for a knockout score.

However, Eastern’s outstanding defense simply would not comply.

The Bobcats were stalling to open the fourth quarter, marching down the field at a snails pace and taking advantage of the play clock before getting its offense in gear.

After completing two-fourth downs and getting into the Eastern’s red zone, disaster struck South Windsor.

At Eastern’s 15 yard-line, Casey fumbled the ball and the Lancers’ Kyle Babin scooped up the scraps – sprinting about 25 yards to get the Kingstreeters to midfield with 5:29 remaining in regulation.

Brady Brown (six carries, 48 yards) started the drive with a 13 yard rush and as Rayshon Andrews (3-22) followed up with a nine yard carry on a slick reverse, he was tackled while out of bunds – resulting in a South Windsor penalty via a personal foul.

That set up Eastern in the red zone at the South Windsor 17.

“Brady ran the ball really, really well, especially in the second half for us” said Julius of Brown. “It was definitely a good change-up for us off of Alex because Alex’s going to draw a lot of attention.”

Three plays later, Alex Marshall (31-131, three TDs) scampered into the end zone as his four yard touchdown sprint to make it a 15-14 game with the Bobcats still ahead by one.

But Gavin Damboise, Eastern’s ever-improving freshmen kicker, cooly sank the point-after-touchdown right through the middle of the uprights as cheers erupted from the BE sidelines and with 3:55 left, the contest was all tied up at 15-15.

However, South Windsor had one more drive left to tally that go-ahead score.

Setting up at the Eastern fifty due to a penalty, the Bobcats battled all the way to Lancers’ 15 – in the red zone one final time during regulation – but once again, the visiting aggression could not convert.

The ball was turned over on Eastern’s 12, Marshall made one last rush before the clock hit zero and at 15-15, it was time for a little extra football.

“Our defense, as they’ve done all year, made stops after stop after stop,” said Julius. “We made big plays.”

In scholastic overtime football, both teams get the ball at the opponent’s 10 yard-line – with four chances to put points on the board – and if the score is still tied after the first session, another period is played until one team is finally goes ahead of the other.

On the Lancers’ drive, the locals needed three rushes to square up six points as Marshall made a four-yard splash into the end zone and off one more Damboise PAT, the home team was in front, 22-15.

“Our offense did what our offense is capable of,” said Julius. “We ran the ball well, we hit some big plays, and had some good performances by a lot of guys on the offensive side of the ball as well as the defensive side.”

And then it was South Windsor’s turn, also needing just three rushes to capture a touchdown as Brayden Dill dashed in on a two yard jaunt, tying the affair up at 22-22.

To end the game, Casey flashed back and then made his move forward, streaking in for a two as the Bobcats came away with a huge 23-22 win.

After Eastern’s opening drive was stopped on South Windsor’s two yard-line, the opponent’s started its attack but DJ Lewis was dropped in the end zone – resulting in an Eastern safety – as the home squad scooped up a 2-0 lead with 7:21 left in the first period.

The Lancers couldn’t capitalize on the free kick but on the flip side, the Bobcats went 63 yards on seven plays – culminating with a slick 17 yard Casey pass to Anthony Maddox – as the visitors led 7-2 with just over two minutes to go in the first frame.

That score lasted into intermission as neither squad scored over the final 14:11 of the first half as the Bobcats were clinging to its five-point edge.

On the first series for South Windsor in the third tilt, the visiting team went three-and-out and on the punt, Eastern’s Josh Aubin blocked the attempt. 

And even as the visiting aggression regained the ball, Alex Vita tackled the rusher for a huge 23 yard loss and with 9:11 remaining, Eastern was in just in South Windsor territory and on the verge of regaining the lead.

This time around, a seven play drive saw Marshall end it with a one yard sprint into the goal and even as Eastern missed the two-point conversion, the home team led 8-7 with 5:26 remaining in the third tilt.

“We made some nice adjustments at halftime,” said Julius. “Credit to the coaching staff. Our assistant coaches did a really nice job at the half and credit the players. They came out and executed what we talked about at halftime.”

“And we were able to see some really good results because when you have the player the caliber that Alex is, teams are aware he’s going to run the football so you have to do some things to be able to counteract that and we did that in the second half.”

South Windsor answered the BE score almost immediately as Casey dropped in a 46 yard TD strike to Maddox for a score.

Casey then ran in the ball for two and with 3:36 to play in the third, it was a 15-8 contest.

Eastern then turned over the ball at the third period buzzer and the Bobcats went for the stall to open the fourth frame, eventually fumbling the ball away which allowed Eastern to knot the showdown at 15-15 as overtime was needed to determine the ultimate winner.

In the end, South Windsor’s touchdown and Casey’s two-point conversion propelled the Bobcats to the 23-22 victory.

“We made [South Windsor] earn it all night long,’ said Julius.

NOTES…Marshall, Aubin, Malik Sherrill, and Vita all made tackles for losses for the Lancers…Eastern rushed for 211 total yards on 44 carries…The Bobcats had five fumbles on the night, committing two turnovers due to losing the ball…The contest was Eastern’s first overtime game since Thanksgiving 2019 when Central scooped up a 34-32 victory over the Lancers.

SOUTH WINDSOR 23, BRISTOL EASTERN 22 (OT)

from Alumni Field on the campus of Bristol Eastern

South Windsor (5-2) 7 0 8 0 8 – 23

Bristol Eastern (3-4) 2 0 6 7 7 – 22

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period

BE – DJ Lewin tackled in the end zone for a safety, 7:21

SW – Anthony Maddox 17 pass by Tyron Casey (Joe Bemis kick), 2:11

Second Period

No Scoring

Third Period

BE – Alex Marshall 1 run (Marshall run), 5:26

SW – Maddox 46 pass by Casey (Casey run), 3:36

Fourth Period

BE – Marshall 4 run (Gavin Damboise kick), 3:55

Fifth Period (Overtime)

BE – Marshall 4 run (Damboise kick)

SW – Brayden Dill 2 run (Casey runs)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

PASSING – South Windsor: Tyron Casey 10-for-16, 120 yards; Bristol Eastern: Kamden Laprise 2-for-6, 1 yard.

RUSHING – South Windsor: Team 33-106; Bristol Eastern: Alex Marshall 31-131, Brady Brown 6-48, Rayshon Andrews 3-22, Kamden Laprise 2-10.

RECEIVING – South Windsor: Sam Meleshanko 1-5, Anthony Maddox 6-103, Devin Decker 2-6, Josh Colon 1-6; Bristol Eastern: Alex Marshall 1-3, Rayshon Andrews 1-(minus-2), Alex Marshall 1-3.