Waterford — Waterford's second drive took up a good chunk of the first quarter ... and the second quarter.

It covered 63 yards in 22 plays, 21 rushes, starting all the way from the Lancers' 4. It was stopped, however, on a bad snap on third down and an incompletion on fourth down. With 6 minutes, 35 seconds to play in the first half, there it was, the story of the night for the Waterford High School football team.

"We struggled running the ball, we struggled throwing the ball. We had trouble moving the football," Waterford coach John Strecker said. "It's very disappointing. That's a good football team. But we came out and we were a little flat. We played flat."

Griswold beat Waterford 20-7 Friday night in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division game that left Griswold tied atop the division standings with one loss, meanwhile putting a damper on Waterford's senior night festivities.

Griswold's Brandon Yeaton carried the ball 24 times for 233 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown on the Wolverines' first drive of the second half to make the score 14-0.

Waterford (3-5, 1-4), which had scored more than 40 points in each of its last two games, fumbled on its first possession of the third quarter.

The Lancers punted on their next two possessions before pulling within 14-7 with 5:46 to play in the game on a 14-yard run up the middle by Chase Speller (26 carries, 97 yards).

The drive was highlighted by a 27-yard completion from Jake Mangual to Justin Keating and an 11-yard reverse by Spencer Hoagland for a first down. Speller's touchdown run came on fourth-and-four from the 14.

Griswold narrowly recovered the onside kick. Waterford forced the Wolverines (5-3, 4-1) to punt and got the ball back with 3:01 remaining. The bad news came when the punt rolled all the way to the Lancers' 1-yard-line.

With Waterford still trying to make something happen on fourth down from the 3, Mangual threw an incompletion, handing the ball over to Griswold just steps away from the Lancers' goal line. Griswold scored in two plays, the last a 1-yard touchdown run by Jordan Baker for the final margin.

Griswold led 7-0 at halftime on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Cole Mileski to Baker, a drive fueled by a 38-yard gain by Yeaton.

"We gave him some pretty big holes, but he was quick," Strecker said Yeaton, who had seven carries for 90 yards in the first half.

After Waterford's lengthy drive came to an end at the Griswold 33, Yeaton immediately took off down field for his 38-yard gain. Griswold got the ball down to the Waterford 6 before being backed up by a pair of illegal procedure penalties, but Mileski kept the ball for 12 yards down the left sideline on third down, setting up the fourth-down touchdown throw for the game's first points.

Griswold coach Gregg Wilcox refused comment to The Day.

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieatheday