Howdy,

The only thing that might have given Fitch head coach Mike Ellis more agita about fullback James Deichler missing Sunday's game against Waterford because of injury was how it happened.

"Last Friday (at practice), we were in t-shirts and shorts, and he stepped on a player's foot and turns his ankle," Ellis smirked.

It gets better.

"When is he allowed to come back? Tomorrow," Ellis continued.

Ellis broke out into laughter.

Ellis was able to laugh because several Falcons kept the running game going to knock off the previously unbeaten Lancers 35-28.

Fitch (3-2) runs the triple option, and the fullback is a huge part of it.

Savonne Mitchell stepped in at fullback and ran 14 times for 102 yards.

Quarterback Josh Letellier added 17 carries for 138 yards and two scores. Much of that yardage came on a 73-yard touchdown that gave the Falcons a 13-0 lead with 6 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first quarter.

Ethan Mojica also scored on an 11-yard run that put Fitch ahead to stay, 28-21, with 6:51 remaining in the game."

"Savonne did a very nice job filling in," Ellis said. "Josh did a nice job, and both Ethan, Steve (Cantres) and Lonnie (Howard) did a good job on our toss sweep plays. Running those, we were able to still get some yardage without (Deichler)."

The Falcons could use every healthy body they can get when they host to Notre Dame of West Haven on Saturday.

Notre Dame, which plays in Tier 1 of the Southern Connecticut Conference, is 3-2. Its first game, however, was a 49-14 loss to two-time defending CIAC Class L champion Hand, the top-ranked team in both The Day's state coaches' and GameTimeCT/New Haven Register media polls.

The Green Knights' second game was at second-ranked St. Joseph, which routed them, 42-7.

• • • •

Ledyard is halfway through its season, and its been another tough one. They dropped to 1-4 after Saturday's 55-22 loss to unbeaten Killingly.

It hasn't been the kind of season that seniors such as Brayden Grim wanted to have in their final season with the Colonels, but Grim accentuated the positives after the loss.

"(Killingly is) a tough team," Grim said. "They're a really good team, and my goal is to have Ledyard build up our standards like them and build our football team back up, and just work hard every day."

The Colonels have a 7-23 record over the previous three seasons.

Ledyard trailed the entire game and were down 14-0 with less than seven minutes left in the third quarter. Grim's 31-yard touchdown pass to Caden Foote got the Colonels' offense in gear.

"We have a really good receiving corps, and our (offensive) line has made some big improvements," Grim said. "We're a small numbers team, so we've got to work every play and we're getting tired (late in games), but we're getting out there and making plays.

"Every play, even if we're down in the fourth quarter by 50 points, I'm acting like we're in the game. It's 0-0. I don't give up on the field, and most of my teammates don't, either. ... We're just out there working."

• • • •

Humans can be more resilient than they might be-lieve, and the younger one is, the more invincible one feels.

Norwich Free Academy continued to have its met-tle tested during Friday’s 27-13 loss to West Haven when second-string quarterback Jakob Hosko was knocked out of the game in the first quarter due to a leg injury.

Hosko had taken over the job during a 41-20 loss to Shelton (Sept. 27) when starter Austin Richards suf-fered a season-ending knee injury.

Sophomore Jayden Desilus was the next man up at quarterback and was solid. He completed 10 of 19 passes for 155 yards with a touchdown and an in-terception.

Asked how one builds resiliency within a team, Wildcats head coach Jason Bakoulis said, “The coaches every day in practice are giving the reps to these guys so they’re prepared. So Jayden, he’s gotten a lot of reps in practice. He’s going against our first (team) defense, and the coaches are coaching him hard every day and treating him like he is going to be a starter, even if he is going to be the third string in the preseason.

“Again, I give all that credit to the coaches and the preparation of the players.”

• • • •

Count New London as a program that enjoys being part of the Connecticut Football Alliance. The Whalers, who opened their season with consecutive losses to New Canaan of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference and Xavier of the Southern Connecticut Conference, picked up their first alliance win on Saturday by defeating Harding of the SCC, 26-14.

New London finishes the alliance part of its schedule on Friday night against another SCC foe, Bassick, at Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport, although they will a fifth non-conference game on Nov. 7 at future ECC opponent and current independent Capital Prep/Achievement First.

"I love to compete," said junior linebacker Keeano Gonzalez. "It's so much fun to play these games. We already know we're a good team in the ECC, so it's great to be able to compete around the state, too."

Added head coach Johnny Burns: "I think for New London, historically, for some reason we had trouble getting up for a schedule that was a majority of conference games only, and no matter how many times our coaches would focus and say, 'We've got to get to work,' so many times we didn't come out the way we should.

"I also think a lot of the time these programs we don't see normally from different parts of the state that have all these accolades and are established programs, it's a little easier for us to maintain our players' attention. ... all they know is you've got New Canaan, you've got Xavier, you've got Harding and now you've got Bassick, that's something for our kids to hang their hat on."

• • • •

Earlier in the season, East Lyme coach Rudy Bagos called for a double pass, which went from quarterback Noah Perry to wide receiver Owen Robbins to running back Cam Hart 18 yards for the game-winning touchdown against Harding. East Lyme won 15-12 on the TD with 1:52 remaining.

On Saturday, East Lyme scored on another trick play, a hook-and-ladder, with Perry hitting Robbins eight yards deep and Robbins pitching it back to Hart, who raced 50 yards untouched down the right sideline to highlight a 44-20 victory over Montville. Perry was credited with a 58-yard touchdown pass.

"From watching film, I knew 'This will work,'" said Bagos, whose team is 4-1 overall headed to a matchup this week with Hand, the top-ranked team in The Day's Top 10 state coaches' poll.

"One of my favorite things to do is come up with these plays. Against Harding it was the double pass. I got down on one knee in the huddle and told them what we were going to do. If I had rocks, I would have drawn it up with rocks, playground style."

Cam Hart and twin brother Blane, who is out with an injury, celebrated their 18th birthday Saturday, with the team serenading them with a chorus of happy birthday in the postgame huddle.

Said Bagos: "We should always have (their) birthday. We always seem to win."

• • • •

East Lyme's Scott Galbo caught three passes for 64 yards and a touchdown, recovered a fumble at the goal line for a touchdown and also plays safety for the Vikings, known for their staunch defense.

"You always forget about Scotty," Bagos said. "He really is one of the top players in this league. Terrific. Just a great player."

Galbo scored the Vikings' first touchdown, a fumble by Cam Hart, who had reached the end zone with a spin move but lost the ball. East Lyme's public address person announced that Hart had pitched the ball to Galbo.

"Oh no," Hart said. "He saved me on that play. I'd be impressed if I could do that (pitch it)."

East Lyme's Zach Todd recovered a fumble against Montville and also teamed with Caleb Smith to sack Indians QB Ryan Douchette. Will Anglin intercepted a two-point conversion attempt in the second quarter, in addition to going 6-for-6 on East Lyme extra points. Nate Jean, who came off the bench, had a big, 40-yard gain for the Vikings in their final series. The Vikings finished with 412 yards offense, 223 rushing and 189 passing.

• • • •

Montville sophomore Chas Terni came into play quarterback after Douchette was injured. Terni was 3-for-7 for 58 yards and two touchdowns, throwing TDs to Antonio Brown and Christian Dio, and also hitting Colin Nickerson for a 41-yard gain.

Terni is the son of 1997 Montville graduate Chas Terni, a classmate of current Montville head coach Tanner Grove.

"It's been interesting," Grove said. "Little Chas was growing up and his dad and I would have a few laughs. Life comes full circle, I guess. ... Chas is a good, young player. Right now, he's trying to catch up with game speed on the fly. When the game slows down for him a little, he's going to be a good player."

• • • •

Thanks to TEAMDAY~! commodore Chuck Banning (New London-Harding) and Vickie Fulkerson (East Lyme-Montville) for their contributions to this here blog.

• • • •

Thanks for reading. More soon.

Adios.