By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The RHAM football team did not beat Bristol Eastern in a CCC Tier III showdown last Friday night.
In the end, it was Eastern who beat Eastern.
Leading by twenty points with less than five minutes to play in the third period, the Raptors scored twenty-three straight to pull out an improbable 23-20 upset over the Lancers from Alumni Field in Bristol.
It was the opener for both squads.
Penalties were a complete nightmare for the Lancers, costing the Lancers over 130 yards, killing any momentum in what looked like a promising 2022 debut.
Over those gaffs, RHAM was able to cobble together 23 points in just under 16 minutes over a damning second half stretch.
“Awful, not good,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius of the penalties. “[It was] very undisciplined which is really not a staple of what we do. It was disappointing to say the least. But at the end of the day, you can’t make excuses about that. We have to make more plays than they do.”
RHAM’s Max Nylen led the charge with 133 yards on the ground along with a huge 69-yard kickoff return for a TD after the Raptors forced Eastern into a safety – turning around to score on the free kick – that trimmed the deficit to 20-16 with 4:56 remaining.
And after RHAM forced a three-and-out, the visiting aggression ended its scoring exploits with a nine-yard touchdown jaunt from Mike Marques and with 1:08 left, the Raptors took its first and only lead of the game at 23-20.
“You’ve got to give RHAM credit,” said Julius. “They made the plays in the second half, and we didn’t make enough. We made some plays. We just didn’t make enough.”
Eastern was churning out scores early as the squad scooped up 325 total yards in offense.
BE quarterback Kamden Laprise hustled all evening long, connecting on 7-of-15 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown as the sophomore made some slick connections.
He was sacked just once and did not throw an interception.
Brady Brown caught a couple passes for 39 yards while Austin Shorette and Zaveyn Tate each made critical fourth quarter receptions as Eastern’s comeback bid fell short at RHAM’s 31 yard-line to end the game.
Junior Jaiden Fore wrapped up 67 yards on 12 carries while Kyle Babin added 23 yards on five carries for the home team.
“It was nice to see other kids get going,” said Julius. “I thought we ran the ball really well at times.”
But the player of the game was Eastern’s Rayshon Andrews.
The Raptors did not have an answer for the speedster over the first thirty minutes.
He scored on his first three trips with the ball that included a blazing 35-yard run, a slick 36 yard TD reception and a massive 52-yard scoring jaunt that put Eastern up 20-0 with 1:45 remaining in the first half.
He scored two other times, with catches of 40 and 58 yards, but penalties knocked out both TDs
“Ray’s a great player,” said Julius of Andrews. “He’s got superstar written all over him. He showed it tonight [with] multiple touchdowns called back because of penalties. He’s somebody we’re going to rely on obviously on offense this year.”
Eastern’s defense was excellent over the first 24 minutes, allowing just 43 rushing yards and zero passes before falling apart late in the third period and into the final 12 minutes.
On Eastern’s first possession of the game, Andrews made a mad dash through the RHAM line, taking the handoff from Laprise, barreling to the right and then charging into the end zone on a 35-yard scoring dash.
And then on the ensuing onside kick by Eastern’s Gavin Damboise, the ball bounced off a RHAM’s player, Ryan Corvo made the recovery and the Lancers’ offense was at it again.
On an eight play, 47-yard drive, Laprise heaved a great ball into the end zone and on a jump-ball play, Andrews snared the ball for another score and with 2:53 left in the first period, Eastern led 12-0.
RHAM’s offense continued to sputter in the first half and eventually, Eastern turned back to Andrews.
On a three-play drive, he eventually toasted the Raptors for a 52 yard jaunt into the goal for one final score and with 1:45 before intermission, Eastern was in charge at 20-0.
To open the third tilt, Eastern was forced to punt, RHAM’s ensuing drive resulted in a turnover on downs, but the Lancers failed to capitalize.
Off the second Lancers’ punt of the third quarter, Nylen ran in the ball via an 80-yard score and suddenly, the lead was chopped to 20-7.
Trailing by 13 midway through the fourth, RHAM was operating in Eastern’s red zone, but a fumble was recovered by Mikey Sherrill at the nine and the home team went back to work offensively.
From there, Eastern got pinned on fourth down, and penalties put Damboise nearly out of bounds on the punt attempt.
But the ball floated out of bounds, resulting in a safety, and RHAM scored on the free kick to trim the deficit to 20-16 with less than five minutes showing on the clock.
Another three-and-out gave the Raptors the ball with 3:08 left and a half-dozen plays later, Marques bounced off an Eastern defender, zipping up a nine-yard score and suddenly, RHAM was leading by three with 1:08 left.
But Eastern responded as Shorette and Tate made two big receptions, getting the Lancers within the Raptors’ 40 yard-line with 33 seconds remaining.
“The fight was there,” said Julius. “We’re down there at the end [and] we had an opportunity to win the football game. The kids didn’t quit. You’ve got to give them credit for that.”
Eastern had three good looks at it late but Laprise never found that one final scoring combination as the Kingstreeters absorbed a tough 23-20 loss to open the season.
“Again, it was the little things that led up to that point that put us in that situation where we have to come from behind,” said Julius. “It’s one thing here, it’s one thing there and, again, as a coaching staff and myself, we’ll try to get this cleaned up and put a better, disciplined product on the field next week.”
BRISTOL EASTERN FOOTBALL (CCC TIER III)
RHAM 23, BRISTOL EASTERN 20
from Alumni Field, Bristol
RHAM 0 0 7 16 – 23
Bristol Eastern 12 8 0 0 – 20
SCORING
First Period
BE – Rayshon Andrews 35 run (kick failed), 8:05
BE – Andrews 36 catch from Kamden Laprise (kick failed), 2:53
Second Period
BE – Andrews 52 run (Jaiden Fore run), 1:45
Third Period
R – Max Nylen 80 run (Jacob Wazer kick), 4:55
Fourth Period
R – Safety (ball rolled out of end zone), 5:08
R – Nylen 69 free kick return (Wazer kick), 4:56
R – Mike Marques 9 run (Wazer kick), 1:08
Individual Results
RUSHING – RHAM: Team 37-253; Bristol Eastern: Jaiden Fore 12-67, Kyle Babin 5-23, Rayshon Andrews 6-97, Kamden Laprise 7-16.
PASSING – RHAM: Brady Holland 2-of-3, 35 yards; Bristol Eastern: Laprise 7-of-15, 122 yards.
RECEPTIONS – RHAM: Mike Marques 2-35; Bristol Eastern: Brady Brown 2-39, Austin Shorette 1-23, Zaveyn Tate 1-15, Kyle Babin 1-4, Andrews 2-41.
Records: RHAM 1-0 overall; Bristol Eastern 0-1.
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