New London – Turns out there is actual evidence illustrating what would make a grown man cry:

Like when you coach your high school football team to its first win in 1,070 days, watching it endure – and finally prevail – over the vagaries of death, COVID, suspension, cancellation, frustration and despondency.

“I don’t know what to say,” Bacon Academy coach Bill Chaffin said Saturday afternoon at Cannamela Field, unable to hold back tears.

Except the tears said it almost as well as the scoreboard did: Bacon Academy 14, New London 13.

The first win for the program since Nov. 28, 2019. Seventeen straight losses. The lost COVID season of 2020. A winless 2021, which featured the cancellation of the last three games because of an incident that led to a Title IX investigation. Seven games and seven losses in 2022.

And then it all ended with 1 minute, 28 seconds left Saturday when Jace King’s interception officially made it one win in a row.

“From the first day I got here,” Chaffin said, “the kids have worked their tails off to change what everyone thinks of them on and off the field. In March when we had 10 in the weight room to June when we had 40, their energy and engagement is the same now as it was then.”

New London led 13-8 with 8:06 left in the fourth period. This was where the Whalers felt the absence of starting quarterback Christian Irizarry all over again. Irizarry, who left with a concussion in the first quarter, is also the team’s punter.

On fourth and 12 from the Bacon 45, the Whalers opted to go for it rather than punt. Bacon’s defensive stop left it with a considerably shorter field.

After a pass interference penalty kept the drive going – it allowed the Bobcats to convert a fourth and 12 – Aidan Fritz scored on a 30-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead.

“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” Fritz said. “Amazing. We’ve been waiting three years for this. And you couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to do it with.”

New London began its final drive at its 16 with 2:58 left. After a first down, backup quarterback Antonio Carmona, whose legs gave the Whalers a 13-8 lead on a 10-yard run earlier in the half, hit Zuri Craig for 47 yards deep into Bacon territory. Except the Whalers were flagged for an ineligible player down field.

King’s interception happened three plays later.

King set up Bacon’s first touchdown with a 50-yard reception from quarterback Jack Holmes. Fritz’s 7-yard run and Colin Olbrias’ two-point conversion catch gave Bacon an 8-7 lead at halftime.

Irizarry threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to Zuri Craig in the first quarter, the play on which he was injured.

Johnny Burns III led New London with 117 rushing yards.

“These kids have been beaten down for three years,” said Chaffin, in his first season at Bacon after a stint as an assistant at Xavier. “Even one win, and hopefully two more, means the world to the kids, coaches and their families.”

m.dimauro@theday.com