Colchester — It was a few minutes after game time and, following a few words to both teams by Paul Dagle of the Brian Dagle Foundation — whose Lax2Live initiative brings awareness to suicide prevention — Fitch coach Scott Freyer was addressing his team for the first time.

He called Monday’s 16-8 victory over Bacon Academy the best win of the season, a meaningful compliment considering the Falcons are 9-2.

“Definitely,” Fitch senior Boden Frost said of the importance of Freyer’s words. “It’s very monumental for us just to have a win like this and be so confident in ourselves. We knew we had it in us and coach gave us that extra juice, that extra fire to keep going and continue with the game.”

Fitch was tied 5-5 at halftime against Bacon, which made waves last week in the Eastern Connecticut Conference with a 10-9 victory over East Lyme. East Lyme is unbeaten in ECC Division I, while Bacon competes in Division II of the league.

It was slow-going for a half, neither team leading by more than a goal, when Freyer, in his first season as head coach of the Falcons, made a plea at halftime.

“I told them that I wanted them to dig down deep and find something in them,” Freyer said, “something to leave out on the field, everything they had inside, every single ounce of energy they had. Do it for yourself and do it for your teammates. Do it for us. Don’t do it for yourself, do it for us.”

Bacon’s Jameson Pirro opened the third quarter by scoring to make it 6-5 in favor of the Bobcats.

That’s when Fitch junior Roman Rich, who already scored twice in the first half, struck for the Falcons. The lefty scored on a laser beam from up top to even the score at 6-6, then, following a Bacon shot that was deflected off the stick of Fitch goalie Chase Beyus, Rich scored again on an assist by Frost to give Falcs the lead for good.

The Fitch offense, reignited, reeled off 11 straight goals.

Rich finished with six goals and one assist, his final score coming with 4:46 remaining while being closely guarded by Bacon’s long-stick midfielder. Tate Gordon added five goals and two assists, Eli Walters three goals and two assists and Frost two goals and three assists.

Troy Johnson, Ethan LoVetere and Pirro scored two goals each for Bacon (5-3).

“It wasn’t just me,” Roman said of a successful day. “It was everybody working together. We pulled it off in the second half. It’s not just me. I’m proud of every single one of these kids on the team.

“I think my teammates just really realized what was going on and we realized we had to step it up. We all just worked together and we pulled it off. Just making the right plays, doing the right things.”

Freyer said since taking over at Fitch, he’s tried to transform the Falcons into maintaining a “we” culture. He gives the players autonomy, for the most part, to run the potent offense the way they see fit, with Frost, in particular, dishing out assists in record-breaking fashion. He set the state record with 12 assists in a single game last week.

“I made it about us, not about me, not about the assistant coaches. We all have a say,” Freyer said. “... I cannot say enough great things about Roman. He’s a heck of a lacrosse player. He’s a great kid. I’m blessed my first year to have a kid like Roman and a kid like Tate Gordon, a kid like Boden Frost, a kid like Eli Walters.

“I have so many great kids that help run this team. They’re about the we and they’re not about themselves.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com