Big Plays Doom East Hampton-Vinal Tech

As Old Saybrook-Westbrook quarterback Torin Wood took a knee, he not only ended the game against East Hampton-Vinal Tech, but ended as well many of the positive feelings the BellHawks had when they walked off the field a week earlier against Cromwell.

The result was eerily similar for EHVT.  The BellHawks fell behind early, forced to play catch up and the defense was undone by big plays. In the end, the Rams won going away, 37-15.

“The bottom line is, and this sums it all up, they didn’t come to play today,” EHVT coach Joe Cefaratti said.

The game had originally been scheduled for Friday night but was postponed to Sunday because of rain.

“I think the postponement really hurt us and I just think they didn’t come to play,” Cefaratti said. “We were ready to play on Friday night. Today, the kids didn’t show up to play. There’s no other way to describe it.”

OSW (1-0) struck first with 2:57 remaining in the first quarter when Torin Wood found Andrew DeAntonis for a 65-yard touchdown pass to put the Rams up 6-0.

The BellHawks (0-2) quickly answered.

Runs by Steven Hall and Spencer Daly and a 15-yard personal foul on the Rams helped get EHVT to the 31-yard-line. A third-down pass from Daly to Ryan Gillespie got the BellHawks to the 8 and Daly eventually scored on a 1-yard plunge with 10:25 to go in the second quarter. Daly’s point after attempt was good and EHVT led, 7-6.

Then Mike Sweeney took over for OSW.

Sweeney scored on a 27-yard run for a 12-7 lead then on the next series intercepted Daly at the 37-yard line with 3:54 left.

The importance of those two plays was not lost on his coach.

“Sweeney had a great touchdown run that really got us going and got a pick that was huge,” OSW coach Rudy Rudolph said.

After a 14-yard run by Jailan Swain, Swain took a reverse on third-and-7 and raced 20 yards for a touchdown and an 18-7 lead.

EHVT went three-and-out and punted, but Kyle Adams recovered the fumbled punt at the 29. With only 22 seconds to go in the half, there wasn’t much time for the BellHawks.

And time had seemingly run out after a run by Daly, but another personal foul on OSW put the ball on the 8-yard line and EHVT was given an untimed play. That was all Daly needed as he found Zack Plitt in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. With a two-point conversion, the score was 18-15 at the half and momentum on the side of EHVT.

It didn’t last long.

The Rams received the kickoff to start the second half and on the second play Swain ran 56 yards for a touchdown and a 25-15 lead.

The BellHawks threatened on their next series, driving to the OSW 25-yard line, but on fourth-and-4 Daly was sacked for a 5-yard loss.

With the Rams on their 45, another 15-yard penalty set up a third-and-20. That’s when Wood and DeAntonis hooked up again, this time for a 70-yard touchdown.

With the score 31-15, the game was getting out of reach, but in the fourth quarter the BellHawks mustered another scoring threat aided by a 28-yard pass to Hall to get the ball to the 31-yard line. With the ball on the 1-yard line, however, EHVT fumbled into the end zone and the Rams recovered.

With 6:11 remaining in the game, Swain ended the scoring with a 59-yard run to make the score, 37-15.

A week after allowing big plays to Cromwell, the BellHawks defense on Sunday allowed touchdowns of 65, 27, 20, 56, 70 and 59 yards

“We had a lot of mental breakdowns that shouldn’t have happened,” Cefaratti said. “A lot of missed tackles and stuff like that and it just was not a good performance at all. Not a good performance.”

Despite a couple of key turnovers, the EHVT offense continues to show it can move the ball. The defense has some catching up to do.

Making it all-the-more frustrating for Cefaratti is that the Rams didn’t throw any surprises at the BellHawks.

“Same stuff that we knew they were going to run and everything that we went over in practice,” he said.

For OSW, it was its first game of the season and the first for its new coach.

“It’s awesome,” said Rudolph of his first victory as a varsity coach. “This is one of the best feelings. I can’t even describe it. I’m more happy for these kids. They’ve been down for a while. I wanted this one more for them than myself.”

Heading into their opener, Rudolph, who had been an assistant at East Lyme, wasn’t exactly sure what he had.

“I’ll be honest, we had two scrimmages and we didn’t look good,” he said. “I didn’t know what we were getting. We had some good practices this week, which was nice. I was very pleased.”

One of the questions heading into the season was the quarterback position, where Wood was taking over.

“He looked sharp. He looked real sharp,” Rudolph said. “He just did an awesome job. What he did … it’s how you win. You earn a lot of trust when your quarterback plays that way.”

EHVT hosts Nonnewaug on Saturday, 10:30 a.m., at Palmer Field in Middletown. OSW plays Friday, 5:30 p.m., at Valley Regional.

Old Saybrook-Westbrook 37, East Hampton-Vinal Tech 15

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

OSW

  6

12

13

  6

- 37

EHVT

  0

15

  0

  0

- 15

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

OSW: Andrew DeAntonis 65-yard pass from Torin Wood. Kick failed. 2:57

Second Quarter

EHVT: Spencer Daly 1-yard run. Daly kick. 10:25

OSW: Mike Sweeney 27-yard run. Two-point conversion failed. 5:20

OSW: Jailan Swain 20-yard run. Two-point conversion failed. 1:33

EHVT: Zack Plitt 8-yard pass from Spencer Daly. Two-point conversion good. 0:00

Third Quarter

OSW: Jailan Swain 56-yard run. Andrew DeAntonis kick. 11:01

OSW: Andrew DeAntonis 70-yard pass from Torin Wood. Kick failed. 4:02.

Fourth Quarter

OSW: Jailan Swain 59-yard run. Kick failed. 6:11