Howdy,

Go figure — Fitch had one of its most successful games running the ball playing in the worst conditions it's faced all season playing in the rain and mud against East Lyme on Friday night.

The Falcons, utilizing their triple option offense, ran 51 times for 232 yards and three touchdowns in a 39-6 win.

Yes, 4.6 yards a carry isn’t flashy, but it allowed the Falcons to sustain drives and bleed the clock while Dorr Field devolved into a muddy mess that only a pig could love.

“It was nice to be able to pound the football tonight,” Falcons head coach Mike Ellis said. “That’s something that we had some success with this year, but not the kind of success we had last year. So, on a night like tonight, it was nice to be able to do that.

“The offensive line did a great job. (Quarterback Tyler) Nelli did a great job running the ball tonight, and the other backs did a great job of blocking for him.”

Daniel Mojica (right tackle), Devyn Jordan (right guard), Austin Beebe (center), Nick Helbig (left guard), and Keith McDonald (left tackle) led the way for the Falcons.

Nelli ran 28 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns, while fullback James Deichler had 14 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Nelli enjoyed playing in the bad weather and took a moment after the game to take a running dive and slide across the field.

“It was fun,” Nelli said. “It felt like we were in ‘Friday Night Lights’. It was awesome.”

Kennard Tate, who returned an East Lyme fumble for a 17-yard touchdown, wasn’t as big a fan of the weather.

“No, I would never play in this again,” Tate laughed. “Never again. I like it hot and sunny, but I’ll take it. I’ll take the ‘W’ that we took. That’s fine.”

• • • •

New London was without junior quarterback Owen George on Friday against Stonington. He missed his third straight game after suffering an arm injury against Hillhouse on Oct. 12. Frankie Pratts and Jacob Commander have been filling in for him.

New London coach Johnny Burns isn't sure when, or if, George will return.

"There is a chance he could play,'' said Burns. "It's not a definite. We'll take it day-to-day and see how he's feeling and we'll make decisions from there.''

The Whalers won 19-0, scoring three touchdowns in the second half after a scoreless first half. And New London had two more touchdowns called back.

Erik McNeil picked off a pass and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown in the final two minutes, but a blindside hit negated the return. And Jaylen Callender had a 48-yard touchdown catch negated in the third quarter by a lineman being downfield.

"That was just us checking at the last minute without changing the blocking assignment,'' said Burns.

Stonington tried to kick-start the second half with an onsides kick, but New London's T.J. Manuel recovered the fumble and four plays later the Whalers scored to take a 6-0 lead.

• • • •

Members of the senior class at Killingly High School are off to the state playoffs. Again. They know no other way to spend time in late November.

Quite the turnaround for a program that struggled for many years, post Gene Blain and the 1996 state title. Now the Redmen, after their 12-6 win over NFA in overtime Friday night, have the chance to defend their Class M title.

"Don't sleep on us," coach Chad Neal said after the wild ending in Friday's driving rain.

The Redmen stopped NFA on third and goal in overtime and scored quickly to earn one of the great wins in program history. And there have been many wins in the last four years: 41 to be exact.

"We'll remember this one for a long time," quarterback Luke Desaulnier said, not long after throwing a 27-yard touchdown pass to Quinn Gervasio, one that Desaulnier called a "duck."

Killingly, with no Thanksgiving game, can focus on how to improve field conditions after all the rain created a mud pit after Friday's game. The Redmen will likely be home for at least one playoff game.

• • • •

East Lyme head coach Rudy Bagos was happy to play in the rain on Friday night having experienced it himself.

Bagos quarterbacked Ledyard’s first state championship team playing for the legendary Bill Mignault, a man who never met a downpour he didn’t like.

Bagos said he played a homecoming game against New London during his junior year and told his team about it before Friday’s game as he encouraged them to embrace the elements.

“Playing on the grass in the mud, this is what you’ve always dreamt about when you were a kid,” Bagos smiled. “Unfortunately, we didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought we would.

“We couldn’t get anything going, but Fitch had to play in the same thing we did. I think their offense is built better for this than ours (East Lyme likes to throw from the spread), but we had some chances and kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”

The Vikings had four turnovers.

East Lyme defenders Liam Whaley and Scott Galbo both had first-quarter fumble recoveries on the Vikings’ half of the field. Both resulted in safeties for Fitch points.

“They capitalized on so many of our mistakes,” Bagos said. “You name it, they capitalized on it. And that’s what good football teams do. We couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes, and that hurt us.”

• • • •

The most entertaining game on Thanksgiving may be Waterford vs. East Lyme, both of whose offenses can throw the ball.

The Lancers, despite the 3-6 record, have discovered quite the quarterback in Ryan Bakken, who threw it all over the place during Thursday’s 37-19 victory over Montville.

Bakken hit Niko Thibeault on the last play of the first half for a 40-yard score, not long after throwing a 43-yard touchdown pass to Dan Annibalini. He has other threats, too, named Marcus, Marcus and Marquis.

That’s Marcus Elliott (10-yard touchdown run Thursday night), Marcus Lovell (scored a touchdown Thursday) and Marquis Smith, who may be the biggest threat of all.

“Just remember,” Lovell said, after seeing Elliott to a newspaper interview. “I’m Marcus senior and he’s Marcus junior.”

Both Elliott and Lovell laughed as they walked off the field celebrating a big win.

• • • •

Senior Night at Stonington wasn't completely ruined by the steady rain, with the cheerleaders, 11 football players and their families honored on Friday prior to the game against New London. But the conditions tested everyone.

One senior who didn't mind the rain was fullback Nate Miller. He rushed for 105 yards on 23 carries and was most of the Bears' offense in a 19-0 loss. Other players combined for 22 yards rushing on 16 carries and the Bears only completed three passes, two on their final drive.

And senior offensive lineman/linebacker Aaron Lahah had a big game, recording a sack and recovering a fumble in the first half.

• • • •

The elements caused Bagos to do things differently when his team had to punt from their 7-yard line.

Bagos took a safety, giving Fitch a 4-0 lead with over a minute left in the first quarter.

“I just didn’t want to have another bad snap,” Bagos said. “I felt it was the right thing to do with the weather.”

The Vikings, on their previous possession, had a bad snap go into the end zone for a safety.

“In hindsight, the two points didn’t really matter,” Bagos chuckled, pointing at the scoreboard.

• • • •

Ellis doesn’t recall playing in the rain and the mud when he went to Stonington.

Ellis did, however, play in those conditions at Norwich University in Vermont.

“We were playing the University of Albany, and a brawl broke out at the end of the game,” Ellis said. “So, there were people everywhere in the mud, mud flying, people flying. So, it was a true mud game that night.

“The following year, I was hired as a coach at Albany,” Ellis laughed.

• • • •

Thanks to David Davidson Davis (New London-Stonington) and Michael “Mookie” DiMauro for their contributions to this here blog.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. We appreciate your patronage.

Please visit theday.com to read the state variant of The Local Polecat, which should be uploaded either Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on how fast out synapses are firing.

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Adios.