By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Bristol Central football program entered the month of November the way it ended October.
And that is winning pigskin games.
In a Central Connecticut Conference Tier 3 challenge against RHAM on Friday night, Central scored the first twenty points of the contest – holding off the Raptors over a 34-20 victory to move to 7-1 overall on the campaign.
The contest was the final home game of the year for the Bristol Central seniors under the lights at BCHS.
Only games with Plainville and Bristol Eastern remain on the schedule for the Rams and it’s going to be difficult to slow down the surging program.
Speaking of surging, Victor Rosa was up to his old tricks again, running for 304 yards and four touchdowns against RHAM and now boasts over 2,000 yards on the season.
It wasn’t a top-10 all time showing in terms of single game rushing yards for Central but Rosa continues to climb the list of all-time rushing yardage accumulated in a season.
To date, Rosa has amassed 2,071 yards which is the fourth best single season yardage total in program history.
He’s just 82 yards away from Garry Pearson’s total of 2,153 yards in 1978 for third place all-time.
Timmy Washington owns the top two spots with 2,711 yards in 2001 while scooping up over 3,000 yards (3,005) the previous season.
With a possible postseason berth in play, Rosa could be nearing one of Washington’s amazing totals by the completion of the year.
The statistic that is clearly in reach for the talented senior is the single season touchdown scoring record.
After compiling four touchdowns against RHAM, Rosa has 33 for the year.
Only Washington tallied more in a season – collecting 37 in 2001 while compiling a school record 42 back in 2000.
Early domination against the Raptors
The Raptors trailed 20-0 midway through the second period before playing the Rams even the rest of the way.
Over first quarter play, Rosa streaked into the end zone for TD scores of one and 33 yards to help the home squad square up a 12-0 lead through 12 minutes of play.
Rosa then added a three-yard touchdown run a bit later and when Damion Glasper punched in a two-point conversion, Central’s cushion reached 20-0.
The Rams led 20-6 at the half and added two third period scores to close out the contest.
Tre Blair took in a 25 yard reception from Rosa for another six points and the Rams’ ended scoring as Rosa made a 12 yard dash into the goal for a TD.
And when Justin Despins raced in for a two-point conversion run, Central snared a 34-14 edge to salt the showdown away.
Where is Central at in the Class L state tournament picture?
Central has now won seven straight games and is in control of its postseason destiny.
If the playoffs ended today, Central would be ranked fifth, squaring off against Windsor (7-1) on the road, in quarterfinal action.
The Rams have 1130 points this season, averaging 141.25 to Windsors’ 141.88 tally.
The three top teams in the Class L standings includes No. 1 St. Joseph and second ranked Maloney, both 7-1, along with Naugatuck (6-1) in third place.
Those four programs ahead of Central have at least one epic challenge left before the completion of the regular season.
St. Joseph plays against Trumbull (6-2) on November 25 – that’s Thanksgiving by the way – while Maloney tangles against Platt in a rivalry game in Meriden from Falcon Field on that same day.
Good luck to Naugatuck against undefeated Ansonia on November 25 while Windsor tangles with Newington (6-2) this coming weekend.
And Central plays the Blue Devils this Friday in Plainville which won’t be any picnic either.
A loss by Plainville could knock the squad out of playoff contention in the Class M field.
And that means the game has big stakes for both squads involved.
Defense
After allowing 98 combined points against Hartford Public and Tolland, Central’s defense has returned to its previous levels.
Over the past two weeks, Edwin O. Smith and RHAM scored just 28 total points for an average of 14.0 points-per-game allowed by Central’s defense.
And that’s getting the job done.
