Imagine what Fitch football coach Mike Ellis must have thought upon learning a few summers ago that his starting quarterback got hurt at a lacrosse camp.

It’s doubtful he ever considered how the best stories often come from unintended consequences.

And yet the injury of one quarterback led to the emergence of three-year starter Ben Perry, whose leadership — and production — led the Falcons this season to their first playoff berth since 2017.

Perry, ultimately responsible for 31 touchdowns, has been named The Day’s 2023 All-Area Football Player of the Year.

Perry ran for 677 yards and 16 touchdowns this year, threw for 837 yards and 15 touchdowns and averaged 31 yards per punt on special teams, including seven inside the 20-yard line.

“I wasn't even really a quarterback to start in youth,” Perry said. “I had played running back and slot receiver and all these different positions.”

But after the injury to Sean Beebe — Beebe’s brother Dylan was an All-Area offensive lineman this season for the Falcons — Perry got the call as a sophomore.

“We had to go in the preseason with Ben,” Ellis said. “We went in to our first game against Stonington. We won with Ben and we were playing pretty well. All of a sudden, this landed on his lap and he took it and he never let go.”

Perry’s growth was gradual inside Fitch’s option offense, a scheme that is as difficult for defenses to stop as it is for quarterbacks to learn.

“An option offense relies on quick decision-making,” Ellis said. “You know the reads that he has to make and the speed it happens with. You can see that Ben’s got this book of knowledge or wisdom, where he’s seen things before and now he can kind of tell whether the defensive end is really coming at him or after the fullback.”

“I just stayed in the mindset of one day at a time because after a certain day, that could have just been it for me,” Perry said. “It’s preparation and practice and running it every day. Getting it down to a T and practicing it not until you get it right, but just until you can't get it wrong. It just becomes muscle memory at some point.”

The Falcons entered the season having fallen a game short of the playoffs in the two previous years.

“My sophomore year, we went 8-2 but did not make the playoffs,” Perry said. “We had a close game against New Fairfield and that kept us out. In my junior year, we had lost a tough one to Berlin. But this year, we just wanted to understand one game at a time — and that one game could be everything for us.”

It turned out the “one game” happened a few times for the Falcons this season. They faced must-wins after they lost an early-season game to eventual Class MM champion North Haven.

“We talked during the year about ‘don't let this game be the game.’” Ellis said. “Once we lost to North Haven there was no more room for error.”

Perry was never better than in what was likely Fitch’s biggest regular-season win at Killingly. He hit teammate Adonis Fine with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 8 seconds left in the first half that gave Fitch a 28-21 lead. Later, Perry’s 21-yard touchdown run gave the Falcons a 37-21 lead. They eventually won 37-29.

North Haven eventually eliminated the Falcons in the playoffs, but not before Fitch scored 22 points in the quarterfinal game. The Falcons scored 28 and 22 in the two games against North Haven this season, the most the Nighthawks surrendered to anyone.

“We had a good season,” Perry said after the North Haven game. “We wanted to go farther, but we made the playoffs.”

m.dimauro@theday.com