By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The return of the annual Battle for the Bell saw Bristol Central’s Victor Rosa score three touchdowns as the Rams won its ninth straight game, downing rival Bristol Eastern by a 38-8 final from Muzzy Field on Thanksgiving.

The Rams (9-1) will continue their season into the Class L playoffs, drawing the sixth slot in the fray — battling No. 3 Maloney in quarterfinal round play this coming Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

The BC/BE showdown, cancelled last season due to the pandemic, saw Central’s defense finish strongly to end the regular season – holding Eastern (4-6) to just 156 total yards of offense and keeping the Lancers’ outstanding Alex Marshall to under 100 rushing yards for the game — leading to just eight points for the Lancers, scored on the first drive of the contest.

“He’s a great back and he’s obviously the focus of their offense,” said Central coach Jeff Papazian of Marshall. “Up front, we really established  well after that first drive — I don’t know how to fix that yet in this game – [and] they were really able to bottle him up.”

And then there was the UCONN bound Rosa, rushing in touchdown scores of 1, 11, and 73 yards while tossing two TDs to Damion Glasper (three catches, 54 yards) and Jarrett Boxley (1-25) as the home team – shaking off a pesky effort by the Lancers – won its sixth straight contest over its crosstown rival.

Overall, Rosa collected 282 rushing yards on 28 tough carries for three TDs while connecting on 4-of-6 passes for 79 yards.

The 282 rushing yards was the third most ever posted on Thanksgiving in Bristol with just Timmy Washington (353 yards in 2000) and Dathan Hickey (333 in 2017) nabbing more yardage over the holiday classic.

“Listen, he’s a really good football player,” said Julius of Rosa. “He’s going to be in the running for Player of the Year and deservingly so. He’s a big-time player.”  

But it wasn’t a runaway early as Eastern was grinding the clock, grabbed a huge touchdown score from Marshall (31 carries, 90 yards) and kept the showdown a one-possession game at the half (16-8).

For his efforts, Marshall became the all-time single season rushing leader at Eastern, tallying 1,728 yards as the senior topped Reinaldo Soto’s total of 1,713 established back in 1996.

The senior, having a tremendous campaign for the Lancers, was also forced to play quarterback for the Lancers due to injuries and did a credible job — striking on 4-of-9 passes for 44 yards — making connections with Conor McCormick (three catches, 34 yards) and Nate Shorette (1-10).

“He did a great job,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius of Marshall running the offense. “He managed the offense. Him and Jeremy Kolloverja kind of did that together. [Marshall] executed, he made some nice throws, ran the ball well and took advantage of some of the things [Central] gave us.”

But Rosa dominated once Central finally got the ball midway through the first frame as he was lights out and from that point of the showdown, Central’s defense mirrored Rosa’s lead on the flip side.

Dan Lauretti, Malachi Jones, Ashton Zabka, Mason Stokes, Johnny Rios, Glasper, Rosa, and the Rams’ defensive front helped to limit the Lancers throughout the showdown.

Austin Shorette, Kyle Babin, Jeremy Kolloverja, and Marshall led Eastern’s defensive efforts against an extremely offensive Central unit.

The Kingstreeters scored first on its opening drive, going 61 yards on 10 plays as Marshall scampered into the goal for a two yard TD rush with 5:50 left to go in the first frame.

“We did what we wanted to do” early said Eastern coach Anthony Julius. “[We] wanted to control the clock and [have] long drives and make them earn their possessions, which we did in the first half. Exactly what we wanted to have happen happened.”

And after Marshall ran the ball in for two, Eastern nabbed an 8-0 edge – lasting into the end of the first period.

But Central was on the move and scored early over the second stanza.

On a 12 play set, with Rosa doing most of the heavy lifting, the Rams got all the way down to the Eastern one yard-line.

From there, Rosa made a plunge into the goal for a touchdown and then sprinted in for two as the contest was all tied up at 8-8 with 10:30 left to play in the half.

On the ensuing drive, which included a sweet reverse by Nate Shorette for a season-high 21 rushing yards, the Lancers got over midfield — looking to answer the Rams.

But on a close near-reception by McCormick, Central’s Ashton Zabka snatched the ball away from the Eastern receiver for the game’s first pickoff and the Rams made the turnover count.

This time, a six-play, 72-yard drive saw Rosa slip into the goal for a 10 yard TD run and when the senior made an easy dash into the goal for another two points, Central zipped up a 16-8 push with 3:26 left in the second stanza.

Eastern then went three-and-out when a bad snap saw Marshall tackled for a huge loss as another drive was wiped out.

“We thought if we could get stops, we’d be okay,” said Papazian. “Marshall has obviously been really effective for those guys. He’s a really good back and I thought we were able to bottle him up decently enough to obviously keep them off the scoreboard. If we could do that, we were pretty confident [in our offense] to put some points on the board which is what we did.”

But on an excellent punt from McCormick, Rosa eventually scooped in the ball and was quickly tackled by the Lancers’ Nashon Pryce to keep Central around midfield.

Two plays later, Marshall forced a fumble on a Glasper reception and when McCormick recovered the ball with 1:23 showing on the clock, Eastern had possession of the ball — stopping a surging Central offense from scoring once again in the second quarter.

And the Lancers eventually ran out the clock and despite not scoring over the final 17:50 of the half, it was still a one-possession game at 16-8 with Eastern kicking off to open the third frame.

“We did a lot of good stuff,” said Julius. “The kids executed really well in the first half and I’m really really proud of the effort they put forth.”

On the opening drive of the third period, it looked as if the Lancers were going to put Central in an early hole off a fumble but Rosa scooped in the loose ball and found Glasper all alone for a 42 yard TD connection and when the QB ran the ball in for another two-point conversion, it was a 24-8 game with 10:52 left in the third tilt.

Eastern then had an eight drive play going on the ensuing kickoff but after an attempted halfback option, that saw Nate Shorette’s pass fall incomplete, Central got the ball back on the loss of downs.

On the first play, Rosa made a huge 73 yard scamper into the end zone, with Eastern defenders in tow the entire way down the field, and with 5:08 remaining in the third, Central’s push was increased to 30-8.

“Our guys did a nice job most of the day trying to contain him, but, you know, great players make great plays,” said Julius of Rosa.

Central’s Tim Sample then pounced on the ball via an onside kick as the Rams regained possession of the ball and before the clock ran out in the third, Central scored one more time.

With the Rams facing fourth-and-long to end the period, Rosa put an on-the-money pass to Boxley for a 25 yard touchdown strike – propelling Central to a 38-8 edge with eight seconds remaining in the third which was the final score of the game.

Both teams forced turnovers in the fourth and final period but a late interception thrown by Marshall ended the showdown as Central advanced to state tournament play over its thirty-point win on Thanksgiving.

“Unfortunately, the score didn’t end up the way we wanted it to,” said Julius of the game. “Our kids fought all day. That’s all I could ask.”

NOTES…Central now leads the all-time series on Thanksgiving, 37-23-2…Rosa earned the Thomas R. Monahan Offensive Player of the Game while Lauretti won the Defensive Player of the Game for the Rams. “Dan got the award [but] Malachi [Jones] was really good in there,” said Papazian. “It was really an all-around team effort which is what you need to contain a kid like [Eastern back Alex Marshall].”…Speaking of Marshall, he earned the Thomas R. Monahan Offensive Player of the Game for the Lancers while Austin Shorette took home the award for his defensive showing…In an interesting quirk, both Rosa and Marshall were the Offensive Players of the Game back in 2019. Both in their sophomore campaigns, Rosa ran for 171 yards while Marshall rushed for 159…Eastern’s Dylan Bradley, Leon Chatelle, Joseph Davis, Cameron Goodman, Nashon Pryce, Malik Sherill, and Nathan Shorette all played in their final scholastic game for the Lancers along with captains Alex Marshall, Conor McCormick Luke Dauphinee and Alex Vita.

BATTLE FOR THE BELL – 62ND EDITION

BRISTOL CENTRAL 38, BRISTOL EASTERN 8 

from Muzzy Field

Bristol Eastern (4-6) 8 0 0 0 – 8

Bristol Central (9-1) 0 16 22 0 – 38

First Period

BE – Alex Marshall, 2 run (Marshall run), 5:50

Second Period

BC – Victor Rosa 1 run (Rosa run), 10:30

BC – Rosa 11 run (Rosa run), 3:26

Third Period

BC – Damion Glasper 42 pass from Rosa (Rosa run), 10:52

BC – Rosa 73 run (run failed), 5:04

BC – Jarrett Boxley 25 pass from Rosa (Justin Despins run), 0:08

Fourth Period

No Scoring

Individual Statistics 

Rushing: Bristol Eastern – Alex Marshall 31-90, Nathan Shorette, 2-14, Conor McCormick, 1-8. Bristol Central – Victor Rosa 28-282, Damion Glasper 2-6, Tre Blair 1-3, Justin Despins 2-12, Amarri Gaskin 3-22. Nik Salinas 1-2, Zyren Collins 1-(minus-3).

Passing: Bristol Eastern – Marshall 4-for-9, 44 yards, Nate Shorette 0-for-1, 0 yards. Bristol Central – Rosa 4-for-6, 79 yds.

Receiving: Bristol Eastern – McCormick 3-34, Nathan Shorette 1-10. Bristol Central – Glasper 3-54. Jarrett Boxley 1-25.