Deep River — Thursday night was how the Valley Regional/Old Lyme football team envisioned their season going.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, they have only one game left.

Valley/Old Lyme has been snakebite this season with injuries playing a big role in a five-game losing streak that derailed any hopes of the playoffs or a winning season.

The Warriors can still finish the season without a losing record, too, and it took another step towards that against Gilbert/Northwestern Regional. They routed the latter 49-14 with the entire second half of the Pequot Football League game being played with running time.

“All year long, we’ve been asking them and trying to play a complete game,” Valley/Old Lyme head coach Tim King said. “Tonight, we finally put it together, but we’re finally healthy.

“We got (quarterback) Jack (Cox) back (from a knee injury). We got Colbe (Andrews) back (from a broken ankle). We’ve got our linemen back, our walking wounded. It’s Week 11 and we’ve finally got everybody back. We had them back last week (a 35-12 win over Old Saybrook/Westbrook on Oct. 15), but they were still like at 75-percent. Now everybody is pretty close to 100-percent healthy and you can see how we can play with anybody. And the big thing, too, is the young kids are coming along.”

Andrews had two interceptions and returned a kickoff for a 94-yard touchdown and Anthony Rosario scored on three short runs for the Warriors.

Cox completed 7 of 15 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown and ran for another for Valley/Old Lyme (4-5) while freshman Di’Angelo Jean-Pierre also had two interceptions for Valley/Old Lyme.

Rosario ran for a 4-yard touchdown as Valley/Old Lyme scored on its first drive with 6 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Yellowjackets (3-6) answered in no time. Chase Sanden got behind the Warriors defense on the Gilbert/Northwestern sideline and took a pass from Anthony Carfiro for a 71-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7 with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter.

Andrews came right back with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 14-7 Valley/Old Lyme lead.

It was on Gilbert/Northwestern’s next possession that the Warriors got jumpstarted. They stopped the latter for no gain on fourth-and-2 from its own 38-yard line.

Valley/Old Lyme didn’t convert that stop into points, but it sure got a boost from it.

“It got us going because we were all there making the tackle,” Andrews said. “When I was down in that pile with a bunch of other guys, it was like the whole team was there. And it just felt like we’re a team and we’re going to come out with a win right there.”

Jean-Pierre intercepted Carfiro at the Gilbert/Northwestern 37 late in the first quarter.

A 23-yard pass from Cox to Andrews gave the Warriors the ball at the Yellowjackets’ 5. Cox ran for a touchdown on the next play as Valley/Old Lyme went ahead, 21-7, 31 seconds into the second quarter.

The Warriors’ Carter Tiezzi recovered a fumble at the Gilbert/Northwestern 30 on the their first play of its next drive.

Cox threw a 20-yard touchdown to Rankin on the next play to push Valley/Old Lyme’s lead to 28-7 with 11:07 left in the half.

Andrews intercepted a pass on the Yellowjackets’ next possession and returned it to their 28. It set up Rosario’s 1-yard touchdown run as the Warriors increased their lead to 35-7 with 8:05 remaining in the first half.

Valley/Old Lyme’s Ian MacKenzie sacked Carfiro for an 8-yard loss on fourth-and-6 at the Gilbert/Northwestern 48.

Rankin high-pointed a ball perfectly on third-and-10 for a 39-yard gain down to the Yellowjackets’ 1-yard line.

Justin Baldato ran for a touchdown on the next play as the Warriors went ahead, 42-7, with 2:17 remaining in the half.

“Unfortunately, we’re just blending and gelling now with five days left in the regular season,” King said.

n.griffen@theday.com