By Michael Letendre
BLOOMFIELD – The Bristol Eastern football squad certainly frustrated Bloomfield on Friday night in a CCC Tier 3 tilt and while the Warhawks took the contest by an eventual 40-3 final, it took a very long time to get there.
Bloomfield, now 8-0, went scoreless over the first 18 minutes of the showdown and faced a 3-0 deficit after one period of play.
“We talked about it at halftime. We don’t play for moral victories,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius. “But I was incredibly impressed with about how we played in the first half. We were great on defense. We sputtered on offense, but we did some good things. We got points out of our first drive after we forced a turnover. We forced Bloomfield into some uncharacteristic things.”
Eastern (3-5) limited Bloomfield to only 40 points, its second lowest tally of the campaign, while the Warhawks kept its starters on the field all game long – still feeling the need to blitz on defense while ahead 30-3 late in the showdown.
The bottom line of the first half saw Eastern allow Bloomfield’s high-powered scoring offense just one offensive touchdown.
And the contest started on a hopeful note as Bloomfield’s Conellius Patrick fumbled on the first possession of the showdown – giving Eastern the ball on the Warhawks’ 31 yard-line.
Ten plays later, Eastern’s always improving kicker Gavin Damboise blasted in a 22 yard field goal – right through the middle – and at just over the halfway mark of the first period, the Kingstreeters held a 3-0 push.
“It’s a lot of pressure on a young kid to go out there and try to knock three points in for us,” said Julius of Damboise. “He did a nice job and he’s continuing to get better every week. That’s definitely nice for us to have that in our back pocket to get some points when we get down in the red zone. And that’s something we’re looking forward to in the future from him as well.”
Over the ensuing drive, Austin Shorette laid down a big tackle for a loss on running back Dallas Rose (15 carries, 76 yards) as the home team eventually ran out of downs.
Off an Eastern punt, another fumble – this time recovered by Eastern’s Malik Sherrill – gave the road warriors possession of the ball once again.
Both teams forced punts to end the first quarter and after one frame of play, the Lancers were surprisingly in control, ahead 3-0 on the scoreboard.
“In the first half, we were opportunistic,” said Julius. “We forced two turnovers. That’s huge. We did some really good things up front. We had some unblocked players that made some plays in the backfield. That kind of stuffed their run game for a while.”
On Eastern’s following possession, quarterback Kamden Laprise (4-for-14, 29 yards) had one of his passes picked off by Davion Kerr as he sprinted 85 yards for a TD score.
Midway through the second period, Bloomfield finally got on the board on an eight play touchdown drive as Robert Dunkley secured a 21 touchdown reception from Bloomfield QB Darrien Foster but Eastern’s Alex Marshall (25 carries, 58 yards) blocked the extra point and with 5:43 left in the first half, it was just a 6-3 game.
The PAT failed once again, Bloomfield’s defense did the job for the remainder of the half but the powerful football program only held a single-digit edge at the half, 12-3, over a game Bristol Eastern football program.
Bloomfield recovered the kickoff to open the third period and on a short field, Patrick scored on a five yard jaunt as the Warhawks scooped up an 18-3 lead with Eastern still hanging around with 10:36 showing on the clock.
Eastern’s offense just couldn’t link up for another score over the third period but neither could Bloomfield as the Lancers’ defense made critical stops.
It was 15 minutes between scores for the home team over the third and fourth frames.
Bloomfield was grounded on the BE one yard-line with 10:32 to play in the fourth period as the Lancers frustrated the opponent’s offense for the full forty-eight minutes.
But short fields, and the need for Bloomfield to run up the score late, did-in the Lancers as the Warhawks scored three times to end the affair.
Patrick ran in a two yard TD score midway through the fourth period, Dallas Rose answered with a seven yard score and with 5:10 remaining, Bloomfield led it 33-3.
And then to end a game that was already over, Patrick ran in a garbage time touchdown that did not make a difference in the ultimate outcome as Bloomfield won the CCC contest by a 40-3 final.
“[In the] second half, we made some mistakes,” said Julius. “And they capitalized on them in big ways and that’s what they’ve done to everybody all year. They [make] mistakes hurt and you have to play mistake-free football when you play a team of this caliber.”
BLOOMFIELD 40, BRISTOL EASTERN 3
from Bloomfield high school
Bristol Eastern (3-5) 3 0 0 0 – 3
Bloomfield (8-0) 0 12 6 22 – 40
SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
BE – Gavin Damboise 22 yard field goal, 5:53
Second Period
BL – Robert Dunkley 21 pass by Darrien Foster (failed kick), 5:43
BL – Davion Kerr 85 interception return (failed kick), 2:49
Third Period
BL – Cornelius Patrick 5 run (failed throw), 10:36
Fourth Period
BL – Patrick 2 run (Trey Ortiz catch), 7:40
BL – Dallas Rose 7 run (Matthew Miller kick), 5:10
BL – Patrick 2 run (Miller kick), 0:31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing – Bristol Eastern: Kamden Laprise 4-for-14, 29 yards; Brady Brown 1-for-4, 6 yards; Bloomfield: Darrien Foster 7-for-11, 49 yards; Janszyn Booth 1-for-1, 29.
Rushing – Bristol Eastern: Alex Marshall 25-58, Brady Brown 3-(minus-3), Rayshon Andrews 1-4, Kamden Laprise 1-4; Bloomfield: Cornelius Patrick 14-89, Dallas Rose 15-76, Shane Bell 1-3, Darrien Foster 1-2.
Receiving – Bristol Eastern: Rayshon Andrews 2-12, Nate Shorette 1-1, Conor McCormick 2-22; Bloomfield: Robert Dunkley 6-50, Cornelius Patrick 1-(minus-1), Davien Kerr 1-29.
Records: Bloomfield 8-0 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-5
