There were a number of unhappy outcomes for football programs across the Eastern Connecticut Conference during the first week of the season. Happily, several did the resilience thing last weekend, perhaps none more so than Stonington.

The Bears, who lost their opener 68-16 to Killingly, nearly scored that many points against Woodstock on the road last Saturday.

Quarterback Jayden Carter threw three first-half touchdowns and finished with 280 yards passing in the Bears’ 59-26 win.

Carter threw two touchdown passes to Patrick McGugan (18, 25 yards) and a 51-yarder to Chase Spurley, who has touchdown receptions in his first two games.

The Bears led 24-20 at halftime before an even more productive second half, highlighted by two forced turnovers.

“The second half was a different story,” Stonington coach A.J. Massengale said. “We executed well in all three phases to put the game away. We had some big defensive plays in the second half with Cooper Light's scoop and score (58 yards) and a big interception and return by McGugan to set up his rushing TD.”

Maddox Massengale also scored twice for the Bears, who make their GameDay debut next week against Windham ― the team that handed Stonington its first loss last season.

GameDay guest appearance

GameDay’s game of the week features a potential Class SS playoff game as Sheehan (2-0) visits Killingly (2-0). Both schools received votes in the latest GameTimeCT poll.

Former UConn football and basketball voice Joe D’Ambrosio will handle play-by-play duties (pinch-hitting for Casey O’Neill) with color commentator Jose “Pasta” Sanabria.

D’Ambrosio, a good friend of GameDay, did play-by-play for New London/Windsor basketball during last year’s Day Holiday Classic.

Game time is 6:30.

News and notes

The news wasn’t all bad for Fitch last week, despite its 37-21 loss at Cheshire. The Falcons ran for 205 yards as a team, led by Devin Cook (73) yards and Porter Carter (69). Fitch takes another long trip this week playing at Simsbury in a Scheduling Alliance game. … Interesting moment late in Waterford’s 20-7 win at Bacon Academy last week: With around nine minutes left and Waterford facing fourth down, quarterback Jax Higgins came running off the field yelling “punt!” It wasn’t the typical reaction of a quarterback on fourth down. “I was thinking ‘punt’ too,” Waterford coach Zeth Nolda said. “It’s nice to know when you’re all on the same page.”

Ledyard’s A.J. Adamick leads the ECC with 396 rushing yards in two games. … Windham joined Killingly in receiving some votes in the GameTimeCT poll after its 42-28 win over New London. Asael García Rodríguez had 228 yards rushing for the Whips, who are part of several Class SS teams from the ECC in contention (with Ledyard, Killingly and Waterford). … There are a number of interesting Alliance games this week in addition to Sheehan/Killingly, including No. 8 Masuk at No. 1 New Canaan and No. 2 Darien at No. 6 Windsor.

m.dimauro@theday.com