Stonington — Montville made Saturday morning's ride back to Stonington worthwhile.

Trailing Stonington 40-34 when the game was suspended after three quarters on Friday, the Indians won 49-46 in the football opener for both teams.

The game was stopped at 5:45 p.m. Friday due to a school-issued curfew after the Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus was detected in the area earlier this month.

"We lost the scrimmage but we won the game,'' said Montville coach Tanner Grove. "That's what I told the kids.''

Stonington had scored on six of its eight possessions on Friday. Saturday was a different story for Montville's defense. The Bears scored on their first possession but Montville got stops on the other two, one on a turnover and one which forced Stonington's only punt of the game.

Montville scored on its first possession of the fourth quarter to take a 41-40 lead. Ryan Douchette hooked up with Colin Nickerson for a long pass to the 4-yard line and Douchette ran it in from there to tie the game at 40-40 (Diego Garces-Cortes made the extra point).

Stonington reclaimed the lead 46-41 when Christian Hudson scored his fifth touchdown of the game. Montville's Jayden Long caught a pass and took it down to the 1 and, once again, Douchette ran the ball in for a 47-46 lead. Frank Cook's conversion run completed the scoring with 54 seconds remaining.

Stonington was driving on its last possession before time ran out.

In other games:

• Seth Cunningham rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries as the Thames River Crusaders opener their season with a 14-6 win over O'Brien Tech in a Connecticut Technical Conference game at Norwich Tech.

Logan Starr scored the other TD for the Crusaders while Don Martinez rushed for a two-point conversion and Zair Alexander rushed for 42 yards on just two carries.

Thames River was carried by its defense, especially by the tackles up front, where Roark Ryan had six tackles (four for loss of yards), Nick Miller had six and Matt Thorpe five.

• Fitch opened its season with a 31-14 loss at Wilton on Friday night. Lashier Edwards threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Noah Charron in the second quarter and James Deichler ran for a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Fitch hosts Xavier on Saturday at 1 p.m., then travels to Bunnell of Stratford on Sept. 27.

"We need to improve a lot very quickly to have a shot to win against Xavier and Bunnell,'' said Fitch coach Mike Ellis. "But they're great kids and I know we're going to get better.''