Waterford — Killingly senior Jonathan Creswell knows full well that he and his teammates escaped disaster in the first half of Monday night’s CIAC Class M semifinal at Waterford.

The Lancers had the ball for almost the entire first quarter and dominated the first half, but only had a touchdown to show for it.

The Red Hawks dominated the second half and ran through the Lancers.

Sophomore Jack Sharpe ran 24 times for 253 yards and three touchdowns as third-seeded Killingly scored five unanswered touchdowns and took down No. 2 Waterford 35-7 in an All-Eastern Connecticut Conference semifinal.

“We came out flat,” Creswell said. “We overlooked them. You know what, I think last year’s game had something to do with it.”

The Red Hawks mangled Waterford on the road, 76-27, on Oct. 19, 2018.

“That team played real hard,” Creswell continued. “They came out and punched us right in the mouth. They ran the ball around the edges. They just killed us with speed, man. Speed kills. They just came out and ran the ball all over us at the start.”

Killingly (11-1) advanced to its second state final in three seasons and will play No. 5 Weston in Saturday morning's final at Veteran’s Stadium in New Britain (11).

The Trojans thrashed top-seeded Rockville 37-0 in their semifinal.

The Lancers finished 10-2, including winning their first playoff game.

“(Killingly head coach Chad Neal) was right on the money,” Waterford head coach John Strecker said. “He found places where we were weak. We had a really good defensive game plan early on. Then, at halftime, he made some adjustments.”

The Red Hawks ran for 55 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries in the first half.

Killingly finished with 41 carries for 363 yards and five touchdowns.

Sharpe had 16 carries for 216 yards and two touchdowns in the second half alone.

“We were really committed to stopping the run,” Strecker said, “so you could see that once they got through the line, there was nobody there. We gave up a couple of big plays.”

Jackson Lopes added eight carries for 69 yards and a score and had an interception for the Red Hawks. Chris Jax had 2.5 of their five sacks and recovered a fumble and Creswell added an interception.

Ryan Bakken completed 8 of 23 passes for 175 yards for Waterford. Sam Menders added two catches for 76 yards.

The Lancers opened the game with an 11 play, 63-yard drive. It culminating in a 10-yard touchdown run by Trey Brennan that gave Waterford a 7-0 lead just 3 minutes, 27 seconds into the game.

The Lancers got the ball right back as Matt Sanford recovered a bobbled kickoff at the Killingly 45. They later had a first-and-goal at the Red Hawks’ 5 but only advanced 1 yard. Their next drive ended at the Killingly 17.

Waterford had the ball for 10:29 in the first quarter and had an edge in both first downs (8-0) and offensive plays (25-3), but only one touchdown to show for it.

“You’re not going to win too many games, let alone playoff games, being in the red zone, or being in the short field and not getting anything out of it,” Strecker said.

The Red Hawks didn't get their first first down until there were less than four minutes left in the half (the Lancers already had 11).

It looked as if Killingly finally hit on a big pass play late in the first half — and that Waterford forced a turnover.

Kameron Crowe caught a pass, Brennan tackled him to jar the ball lose, and the Lancers' Christian Hightower recovered it at his team's 35.

The officials ruled that there was an inadvertent whistle that wiped out the play.

Waterford were furious with the officials. Linebacker Jackson Harshberger said after the game that it didn’t impact them.

“We had a chance to get it back,” Harsberger said when asked if it affected them. “We all knew that we can’t change it and had to go and try to get the ball back.”

Senior Jacob Nurse threw a short pass to tight end Nathan Keefe on the next play that went for a 45-yards gaindown to the Waterford 38.

Sharpe later ran for a 5-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7 with 31.7 seconds left in the first half.

Nurse scored on a 5-yard run to open the second half. He then ran in the conversion after the Lancers were called for encroachment to put the Red Hawks ahead to stay, 15-7, with 9:36 remaining in the third quarter.

Killingly stopped the Lancers on fourth-and-1 at their own 39 on the latter’s next possession.

Sharpe scored on a 33-yard run two plays later.

The Red Hawks got the ball back with 2:57 remaining in the third quarter.

Sharpe ran for a 59-yard touchdown on the second play to push Killingly’s lead to 29-7.

Wateford had 140 total yards at halftime. It had 100 yards in the second half, although 61 of it came on a Bakken to Menders pass play early in the fourth quarter.

Strecker could appreciate what his Lancers did this season. They had one of the state’s best turnaround this season as they were 3-7 last year (and 0-10 before that).

“It was great,” Strecker said. “It’s historic for us. No Waterford team has ever played 12 games before in a year. We’ve never won a playoff game. These kids laid a foundation and we’ll see if the younger guys can build on it.”

n.griffen@theday.com