Waterford — It has been suggested by greater minds that every example of adversity carries with it a seed of equal or greater benefit. Or as Waterford High’s Jax Higgins said Friday night, “Adversity comes. It’s about how you handle it.”

The Lancers simply let Higgins handle it — quite literally with 2:04 remaining — when his 11-yard run for a first down finally allowed Lancerville to exhale, sealing a wild 33-28 win over stubborn Griswold/Wheeler.

Higgins ran for a career high 292 yards, including touchdown runs of 53, 34 and 62 yards, needing all of them as Griswold/Wheeler counterpart Kolby Mills was pretty terrific, too, throwing for 170 yards and rushing for 90 more.

The win kept Waterford (7-0) undefeated and primed for a showdown next Friday at Alumni Field against Windham for the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II title and prime real estate in the Class SS playoff race.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Higgins said, “but the guys I’m most proud of are ‘the horses.’ That’s what we call the offensive linemen. They were great. The hardest working players on the team. This victory was all them.”

The horses helped Waterford roll to more than 400 yards of rushing offense and score the first three times the Lancers touched the ball in the second half.

Waterford, which benefited from three Griswold/Wheeler scores nullified by penalties, watched Mills miss a 36-yard field goal with 4:04 left in the third period, a long drive stalled. Higgins scored on a 34-yard touchdown run later in the period to give his team the lead for good at 20-14.

The Lancers made it 26-14 with 10:57 left on Higgins’ 62-yard run, but Mills responded with a 10-yard scoring run to pull the Wolverines within 26-21 with 6:33 left.

Parker Spencer, whose 54-yard reception set up a score late in the half for Waterford, went 58 yards on a touchdown run to make it 33-21, but again the Wolverines scored, a 3-yard scoring pass from Mills to Luke Cassidy with 3:02 left.

Griswold/Wheeler (3-4) never got the ball back.

“We talk all the time about mental toughness,” Waterford coach Zeth Nolda said. “Things aren’t going to be perfect.”

They certainly weren’t when his team trailed 14-6 late in the first half.

“Everybody was calm at halftime,” Higgins said. “Last year we had a problem of not finishing games. But this is different. We know we can handle adversity. The captains and the seniors on this team do a great job.”

Aedan Cutter had 88 yards rushing for the Wolverines.

But the story was Higgins, who has already eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing this season.

“Jax is the man. He’s the guy,” Nolda said. “But that’s not happening without the horses. They battled their butts off.”

m.dimauro@theday.com