Ledyard — Woodstock Academy coach Sean Saucier would say later that he talked to his team about the highs and lows of a high school football game.

"What comes after a low? It goes back to the high," Saucier said.

And Woodstock, playing in the Eastern Connecticut Conference for the first time in four years after three seasons as an independent, finished Friday's game on a high, scoring last and stopping Ledyard's final drive at the Woodstock 33-yard line for a 31-27 victory in ECC Division II matchup.

That negated some of Ledyard's virtues — the Colonels led 21-14 at halftime — including the first career game for senior Brayden Grim at quarterback. Grim, a former running back (and ECC wrestling runner-up at 160 pounds) finished with 13 carries for 100 yards rushing and also completed 9 of 17 passes for 103 yards and three touchdowns.

But Ledyard coach Clay Killingsworth, in his second season, was upbeat after the game. He chose to focus on the fact that his team played with a few injuries, including losing top playmaker Jaiden Bickham as well as fullback Andrew Allen down the stretch, but never quit in the back-and-forth game.

"We've got a lot of young guys who stepped it up this week," said Killingsworth, who was the head coach at Woodstock from 2013-15. "With injuries, we were missing 2-3 guys on the line and 2-3 guys at linebacker. I'm really proud of the way they played. The seniors continue to lead these young guys and not get down on the young guys."

"That was a tough loss," Grim said. "It was a dogfight out there. It was back and forth."

The Colonels scored on their opening drive on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Grim to Caden Foote and Bickham kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead. Woodstock tied it on a 40-yard pass from Ethan Davis to Nick Bedard with 1 minute, 49 seconds to play in the first quarter.

The teams traded touchdowns again in the second quarter, with Ledyard taking a 14-7 lead at the 10:08 mark on a 34-yard pass from Grim to Bickham, who slipped his defender down the right sideline and caught Grim's attention down with a wave of his arm.

Woodstock got the touchdown back with 5:07 in the half on a 1-yard run by Bedard after Bedard had caught a 32-yard pass from Davis to get the Centaurs to the goal line.

But Ledyard got the last score of the half with 3 seconds remaining when Bickham returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown and, still out of breath, kicked the extra point for the 21-14 advantage.

The back and forth continued into the second half when Woodstock scored on its opening drive, despite starting the 79-yard march with Davis taking a 5-yard sack. That tied the game at 21-21. The Centaurs took the lead for the first time after an interception by Bedard gave them the ball at the 15-yard line. Woodstock's Aidan Morin kicked a 32-yard field goal for a 24-21 edge.

Grim responded with another touchdown pass to Foote to cap a 13-play drive, putting Ledyard ahead at 27-24, but Woodstock came back down the field with long drive of its own. Davis hit team captain Travis White with a 13-yard pass over the middle for the game-winning touchdown with 4:52 to play.

Saucier, in his third season, was still out of breath when he spoke to the media following the game. He thought his team was ready when he saw its demeanor on the bus ride early Friday afternoon.

"Now I know," Saucier said.

"They're disappointed," Killingsworth said of his players. "But I told them if you did everything you can do, walk off the field with your head held high."

v.fulkerson@theday.com