[naviga:iframe width="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLPE0rqtAhli-Xj7OHo5xsMd-ebj-C5I9k" height="240" frameborder="0"] [/naviga:iframe]Groton — Fitch's defense had Wilbur Cross moving backward for a good portion of the game: minus-18 yards in the first quarter, a blocked punt by Nick Helbig which he rejected so forcefully it rattled off the goal posts ...

And then Wilbur Cross was engineering its last series Friday night, or trying to.

Fitch's Noah Charron sacked Governors quarterback Leshaun Hicks for minus-10 yards, back to the 5-yard-line. Charron again drilled Cross running back Jasiah Barnes for minus-4 to the 1. Wilbur Cross was called for illegal procedure, for a negligible loss to the half-yard line. Then Helbig, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound nose guard, wound up for another sack of Hicks, accounting for Helbig's second safety of the game and a 23-6 victory.

"He yelled at me tonight coming off the field. He has more points than whoever he said," Fitch coach Mike Ellis said of Helbig with a laugh. "He's letting me know. ... Listen, we've been hanging our hat on defense all year long. We put drives together and put points on the board, but the defense helped us, too. We pinned them back there."

"Defense is just my passion. Defense is what I really enjoy. I love the sacks to get the crowd going crazy," said Helbig, a senior who also plays on the offensive line. "... It was a great team game. everyone got involved. It's better when it's everyone."

Fitch (3-2) lost to New London 13-8 in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I game on Sept. 29, then went into a bye week, making this the Falcons' first win since beating Waterford on Sept. 21.

But unlike that game, in which Fitch rushed for 441 yards and had four different players rush for touchdowns, a lot of the exhilaration against Wilbur Cross came on defense.

The Falcons led 2-0 after the end of the first quarter, with Helbig's block bouncing out of the back of the end zone for a safety. In the second quarter, running back Kennard Tate rushed for a touchdown on one possession and threw for one on the next and Mike Hamlin added a touchdown run for a 21-6 lead at halftime.

Tate's 11-yard touchdown run came with 9 minutes, 46 seconds remaining in the half and was set up by a 24-yard completion by backup quarterback Damien Flores, a sophomore, who was filling in for Tyler Nelli after Nelli was shaken up on the previous play. Ellis said the coaching staff decided to keep the play in anyway, and gave the green light to Flores.

Fitch made it 15-0 on its next series, with Tate completing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kiev Lucas. The Falcons faced a third-and-12 earlier in the series, but got a leaping 10-yard pass from Nelli to Hamlin followed by a 4-yard run from Hamlin to convert the first down. Lonnie Howard followed with a 16-yard run.

"Kennard did a good job on that sweep; he made sure they bit (on the run) before he threw it," Ellis said of the touchdown.

Wilbur Cross came back with a touchdown on a 25-yard run by Barnes with 3:27 left in the half. The Governors then forced Fitch to punt, but the kick was fumbled after hitting a Wilbur Cross facemask, recovered by Fitch's Oliver Banks.

The Falcs capitalized, scoring in three plays, including a 14-yard run by Howard and a 22-yard run to the end zone by Hamlin.

Fitch turned the ball over on an onside kick to start the second half and did not score in the third quarter at all, but the defense didn't budge either.

Helbig made the first two tackles of the half, Austin Beebe had a tackle for a loss on the first play of the Governors' second possession and Dan Mojica recovered a fumble two plays later in what seemed like a defensive race to infiltrate the backfield.

"It is fun for us to play that defense," said Ellis, who was pleased with the additions of Hamlin and fullback James Deichler to the mix on offense. "... We've got a ton of things to work on, but we got the win and we got better. We have to focus on one game at a time."

v.fulkerson@theday.com