Griswold — The way the game began, with Windham rushing for two touchdowns on its first two possessions while Griswold/Wheeler had only run a pair of plays, was certainly no indication of the pulsating finish Friday night.

With 2 minutes, 41 seconds remaining, Griswold got the ball back at its own 20 and traveled all the way to the Windham 30 before being halted by the Whippets.

Windham’s Francisco Alvarado grabbed an interception deep in Whippets territory with 22.3 seconds to play and Windham took a knee to wrap up the 12-6 victory in what was its opening game.

“I’m happy with the last part of it. I’m not happy with how we played overall because we didn’t play very well,” said Griswold coach Gregg Wilcox, whose team opened last week with a 60-12 victory over East Catholic.

“It was a tough week for us this week for a variety of reasons and things just didn’t get taken care of the way they should have and that’s on me.”

Down 12-0 at halftime, however, Griswold (1-1, 0-1 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II) got the ball to start the third quarter and immediately got a first down throw from quarterback Luke Cassidy to Deondre Bransford, the first Wolverines’ first down of the game.

Griswold was forced to punt, but got a blocked punt from Bransford on Windham’s next series and capitalized.

The Wolverines took over at the Windham 23 and got a 5-yard gain from KinKade Rubino and a short run by Kiyle Montigny before Cassidy threw an 18-yard pass to Montigny on the right side for a touchdown that pulled Griswold within 12-6.

Montigny picked off a Windham pass on the Whips’ next possession, but Griswold fumbled it back.

The game became more physical down the stretch, with three straight personal fouls called (alternating between teams).

Windham got the ball with 5:47 to play in the fourth quarter and pounded it behind Asael Garcia-Rodriguez, who finished with 17 carries for 91 yards, for a first down to the Griswold 24. After a 7-yard run by Garcia-Rodriguez to the 17, however, Windham was hit with an illegal procedure penalty, backing the Whippets up to the 22.

Griswold took over on downs for its final drive, getting a 17-yard completion from Cassidy to Montigny combined with a Windham personal foul to get to the Windham 45.

Cassidy took three shots at the end zone before Griswold called a timeout. On fourth-and-10 with 1:26 to play, Cassidy hit Aiden Peltier on a screen to the left for a 15-yard gain and a first down at the 30. The Windham defense held, however, culminating with Alvarado’s interception.

“We came out, we ran the ball,” Wilcox said of the second half. “We talked about adjustments. We talked about what we had to do and we did it. But if you don’t get a good stop and get the ball turned over in a reasonable place, then you end up with a long field and a short clock.

“Tackling-wise, we got better at the end of the game. It was a good game, it just didn’t turn out in our favor.”

After having its opening game against New Fairfield twice postponed by inclement weather last week, Windham came out with a 12-play, 83-yard drive, covering 6:34 to take a 6-0 lead.

Windham ran the ball 12 straight times, getting a 24-yard gain from Julian Cruz, who started out with a run to the left and then cut back to the middle, followed by a 19-yard run from Garcia-Rodriguez to get the Whippets all the way to the Griswold 29.

Griswold initially stopped Windham on downs, bottling up quarterback Tahj Jones on fourth-and-11 from the 30, but Griswold was called for a facemask penalty, extending the drive. Four plays later, Jones scored from the 1.

Griswold then ran just one play, an 11-yard run by Rubino, before fumbling the ball back to Windham. The Whippets again got a keeper from Jones, this time from the 6, to take the 12-0 lead.

v.fulkerson@theday.com