Cromwell — Valley Regional/Old Lyme is what coach Tim King calls a "work in progress" on offense. The Warriors had been inside the 10-yard-line twice in the first half of Friday night's high school football game without scoring in what was a 0-0 deadlock with Pequot Football League rival Cromwell/Portland.

Then Valley scored not only on back-to-back drives against Cromwell but on back-to-back plays.

Junior quarterback Jack Cox threw a touchdown to 6-foot-1 wide receiver James Marsden on the Warriors' final play of the first half, with 2.1 seconds remaining, and again on their first play of the second half as Valley/Old Lyme avenged last season's overtime loss to Cromwell with a 21-0 victory at Pierson Park.

Valley is 2-0 and has forced 10 turnovers in two games.

"That was massive," King said of the play which gave Valley a 7-0 halftime lead, set up by an interception by Arick Outama, which gave the Warriors the ball at the Cromwell 42. "James ran a great route and Jack threw one of the finest balls you'll ever see. You gain the momentum on a change of possession like that."

Cromwell, with freshman quarterback Cole Brisson having taken over for junior Cam Latronica, who was injured on the first play of last week's 3-0 win over Haddam-Killingworth, got the ball to start the second half.

The Panthers, however, elected to go for it on fourth-and-two from their own 30-yard line and ran the play for no gain, giving Valley the ball well within striking distance.

Cox delievered another touchdown to Marsden on the next play.

"Kevin (Woods, offensive coordinator) said, 'We're going for it,'" King said following a jubilant postgame huddle, in which each coach took the chance to speak to the team. "... That gave us some breathing room, but against upper-echelon teams, (even) 5 minutes (remaining) on the clock is too much."

The Warriors tacked on a touchdown with 4:49 remaining in the game on a 4-yard run by Justin Badolato for the final margin. DiAngelo Jean-Pierre had the last of Valley's five interceptions with :33 to play, his second of the game.

In the first half, it was Valley's third interception which set up the Warriors' first points.

Cox threw a pair of first down passes to Jean-Pierre to get the ball to the Cromwell 17-yard line with 34.1 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Cox's first three throws from the 17 were incomplete until he hit Marsden in the end zone on fourth down. Brian Funk kicked the extra point for the 7-0 lead headed to the half.

That certainly wasn't Valley's first trip to the red zone.

On their first play from scrimmage, Cox hit Jean-Pierre on a 54-yard catch-and-run to the Cromwell 15-yard-line. An 11-yard run by Anthony Rosario on second down got the ball to the 5 and a quarterback keeper put the ball at second-and-goal on the 1.

Valley ran three straight plays from the 1, but Cromwell stopped the Warriors short of scoring.

Valley/Old Lyme once again had the ball first-and-goal on the 10 thanks to an interception by Jeffy Joshy, but turned the ball over on downs, giving Cromwell the ball back on its own 14-yard line with 1:28 in the half.

On Cromwell's second play, however, Outama went up in the air with a Cromwell receiver and came down with the interception.

Said King: "The turnovers were game-changers."

v.fulkerson@theday.com