Waterford — There’s no manual anywhere titled, “A Coach’s Guide To Recovering From An 0-4 Start.” Especially in high school football. They’re kids. Who knows what they’re thinking at any moment?

And then in one play, the epiphany comes. One play. A season turns.

The play for Stonington: Late second half, 7-7 game with Waterford Saturday night. Junior Nick DeDominicis ran with the football. As is usually the case with ball carriers, he drew a crowd. And he carried them along. All of them. Defenders galore. For a 49-yard touchdown.

It ignited Stonington’s sideline. And the Bears rode the emotion to a 21-13 victory, their first win overall and in the Small Division of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

“We talked about how important it is that we get some runs like that,” Stonington coach A.J. Massengale said. “It’s what we haven’t had. Nick’s run, I said at the time ‘that’s it.’ We haven’t had a run like that the whole year. We’ve had many over the years. The kids were just rolling.”

Massengale, whose team trailed 7-0 into the second period, used a different offensive formation that changed the game. He moved quarterback Amadi White to tight end and used a single wing, in which three potential ball carriers lined up in the backfield, all crouched like baseball catchers. The snaps went to Tyler Burnside, Nick Turrisi or DeDominicis. They all ran with determination.

Turrisi, who finished with 155 yards, gave the Bears a 21-13 lead late in the third period with a 50-yard touchdown run. DeDominicis finished with 92 yards rushing.

“It’s a single wing/strong wing formation,” Massengale said, “really not different from what we (normally) do. We just repositioned the personnel.”

Waterford, which had several chances to score and get within a two-point conversion of tying the game, fell to 0-4. Coach John Strecker was still addressing his team in the locker room nearly 30 minutes after the game ended.

Chase Speller led the Lancers with 144 rushing yards and a 45-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Jake Mangual, who threw for 75 yards, hit Justin Keating with a 15-yard scoring pass in the first period.

Now it’s Waterford that must cope with the winless record. The Bears have won one in a row.

“It’s been hard on the kids,” Massengale said. “They hear it from their friends in school and maybe their parents at home. I’ve been so proud of them the last few weeks for how hard they’ve worked. This past week is the best week of practice we’ve had. It’s not easy for an 0-4 team to come out like that.

“We showed them some film (Saturday) to show them they’re better than their record. But in the end, your record is your record. So many good teams on our schedule. We have to get better. But I know how hard they work.”

m.dimauro@theday.com

Twitter: @BCgenius