Surprising Fitch hands NFA first loss 21-9
Groton — When the season began with a 14th straight loss, Fitch was just desperate to win a game. Any game.
On Friday, Fitch, under first-year coach Mike Ellis, won THE game.
Following a mind-numbing near-two-hour weather delay that put the opening coin flip at 8:15 p.m., the Fitch High School football team followed by flipping things on reigning Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division champion and Class LL-Large finalist Norwich Free Academy.
In the only ECC game of the night that wasn't postponed, Fitch toppled NFA 21-9 to forge a tie for first place in the Large Division with fellow league unbeaten Bacon Academy. NFA all-purpose quarterback Jawaun Johnson, perhaps the fastest guy in the ECC, did not play due to a reported illness and Fitch capitalized with four interceptions off Johnson's understudy.
Johnson ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns in last week's victory over Griswold.
"You know all of a sudden you hear things about Jawaun, he's not going to be able to go, and you never believe it," Ellis said, nearing midnight. "The whole preparation was that he was going to play, so it was an adjustment.
"(NFA) ran a lot of real good play-action; the line did a good job making it look like a run. They had some big plays where they moved the ball through the air. Throwing the ball made them offensively more balanced and it was difficult to defend."
NFA tied the score at 7-7 on its first drive of the second half, getting a 35-yard pass from Shea McManaway (13-for-24, 167 yards) to Marquis Ward, setting up an eventual 1-yard run by DaiJohn Cummings.
From there, Fitch (3-1, 3-0, the same division record as Bacon) made all the big plays.
After having a 65-yard touchdown return by Cleon Mclish negated by a penalty on the next play, Fitch went to work to earn the 65 yards the old-fashioned way. Quarterback Robby Duncan hit Luke Letellier with a critical 20-yard pass over the middle on third-and-nine and Jonathon Johnston carried 11 yards on the next play.
Duncan threw a fade to Letellier for 18 yards to the 2-yard line, another third-down conversion, and a pair of 1-yard runs by Parker Gibson and Duncan got the ball to the end zone for a 14-7 lead.
"That was the key, the kids were able to get over that kickoff return and retain their composure," Ellis said. "I give a lot of credit to the kids. There were so many times things went against them. They didn't fold. They kept fighting.
"... It was tough warming up three times for a ballgame. They were wiped out before the game even started."
The Falcons then came down with three fourth-quarter interceptions, two in the final three and a half minutes, in addition to the one by Letellier on the game's first play from scrimmage.
Letellier picked off his second one with NFA deep in its own territory thanks to a hit for a loss by Fitch defensive ends Trent Evans and Donte Paul, giving Fitch the ball at the opposing 40.
With 3:39 remaining, NFA forced Fitch to punt the ball back and, following a delay of game, McManaway was intercepted by Tyric Scott, who took the ball down to the NFA 7, setting up Duncan for another quarterback sneak into the end zone and making it 21-7.
Johnston had the final interception on NFA's next possession with 1:47 to play.
NFA took two timeouts and, with Fitch trying to kill some time with a fourth-and-8 on its own 25, that's when Ellis directed Duncan to drift back into his own end zone and accept a safety. He did so with 18.3 seconds left and the Fitch defense made one final stop with the Wildcats trying to score.
Duncan was 5-for-10 passing for 68 yards and one interception, three passes to Letellier for 51 yards. Mclish ran the ball 11 times for 57 yards and had a touchdown on a 12-yard counter to the right with 44.5 seconds left in the first quarter.
Fre'sko Stevenson had a fumble recovery for the Falcons, who are now 3-0 since losing their 14th straight.
NFA, which turned the ball over on its first two possessions, is 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the ECC Large. Senior running back De'Jean General also did not play due to injury.
v.fulkerson@theday.com
Twitter: @vickieattheday
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