By Michael Letendre
ROCKY HILL – Thursday night’s a great night for football.
And for the squad over at Bristol Eastern, this past Thursday night meant redemption time for the program.
After a tough seven-point loss against South Windsor the previous Friday, the Lancers got back to the pay window over a defensive onslaught against a game yet overmatched unit from Rocky Hill.
Eastern ended up leading wire to wire, defeating the Terriers over a 22-0 shutout from Rocky Hill High School.
The Lancers (4-1) turned defense into offense and shut down each and every drive the home team put together in a complete team effort.
“We got some good efforts by a lot of different guys,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius. “We’re playing a lot of different guys on defense too which is a good thing. Some guys stepped up when we really needed them to whether it was the defensive line with a sack or Adam [Zavecz] doing what Adam does which is wrecking people all over the field.”
“Bryce Bacote had a big pickoff today, Alex Corvo with another big pick today, Hunter Wells with a big, blocked punt to kind of set us up in good field position…I couldn’t be any prouder of the defense.”
Eastern now has two shutouts this season, tying for the most since the 2019 campaign when the squad blanked Pomperaug and Hartford Public in back-to-back games.
Corvo started the fun with a pickoff of Rocky Hill quarterback Joseph Motes in the Eastern red zone off the first series of the game.
And then on the Terriers’ next drive, Ryan Zavecz snatched the ball away from an offender and rumbled into the goal for a huge 28-yard touchdown jaunt.
After another turnover on downs, Wells made a huge sack on Motes on a fourth-and-long situation.
All that defense came over the first half of the game but there was more to come in the second.
Hill’s first series of the second half saw Wells block a punt attempt while Mikey Sherrill later made a two-yard tackle for a loss.
And midway through the fourth, Bacote made his interception bid, sprinted down the field 30 yards off the pick to keep the home squad from scoring.
That’s a tremendous defensive effort fueled by the entire group from Bristol.
On the flip side, the Kingstreeters got nearly 100 yards on the ground, highlighted by senior Jaiden Fore – who also had a tackle for a loss during the showdown.
Fore rushed for 74 yards on 25 tough carries – leading to an early game score.
Adam Zavecz (three carries, 22 yards) made a team leading seven tackles while Zion Otero (three receptions 36 yards, TD) and Sherrill (2-71) made some huge connections with Eastern quarterback Kamden Laprise (5-of-7 passes, 107 yards, TD).
Laprise did a little of everything on Thursday night, including a little punting and rushing – and, of course, passing – for a couple two-point conversions over a tremendous all-around effort.
“I’m happy for Kam,” said Julius of Laprise. “He made a lot of big throws tonight. He had a big pass to Mikey that really sparked us in the beginning. He had a big pass completion to Zion there on the double-move. He’s poised in the pocket and he’s stepping up when he needs to. He’s doing a lot of good things. I think his best football is still ahead of him.”
“Even though he’s a junior, he’s a young kid. He’s had some unfortunate luck over his first two years so I’m happy that’s he’s having some good fortune now.”
After the Corvo intercept, Eastern went 92 yards off seven plays, highlighted by a 76-yard reception by Sherrill and then a three-yard gallop from Fore into the goal for a three-yard score, as the visitors went ahead 6-0 about eight minutes into the tilt.
On the ensuing drive, the Terriers’ Joseph Motes met the Eastern line head on and in the madness, Ryan Zavecz simply swiped the ball for the offender and was off to the races.
And no one was catching Zavecz heading into the Rocky Hill goal.
His 28-yard touchdown plunge was finished off when Laprise hit an open Sherrill in the end zone for two points – extending Eastern’s lead to 14-0 with 1:45 to play in the first quarter to put the home team on edge.
Credit the Terriers over the next 29 minutes as their defense picked up the intensity, forcing Eastern into punts and turnovers, as the score remained 14-0 at the half and lasted into the final period of play.
“You’ve got to credit Rocky Hill,” said Julius. “They took away what we like to do which is run the football. They were very physical, and they did a nice job, but we were able to make plays when we needed to.”
Hill’s offense was just chopped down on each and every drive and off a deflection of a Motes pass by Sherrill, the home team was punting again – still trailing by 14 points with 9:30 left to play.
From there, Eastern salted the contest away with an insurance score.
On a short field, Otero and Kamden made two connections with the final toss leading to one final touchdown.
Laprise found Otero for a 14-yard strike while Fore had a five-yard burst to get Eastern to the Rocky Hill 26.
To end the series, Otero made a terrific spin move on his defender, juking to the right, sprinting down the Eastern sideline with the defender in chase and easily catching a 26-yard TD pass from Laprise.
And when Laprise ran the ball up the middle, off a little juking of his own for a two-point conversion, the Terriers were down 22-0 with 8:24 left.
Off one final Eastern punt, the Terriers used a nine-play drive, calling multiple timeouts along the way, in one last ditch effort to score.
The team ended up bankrupt on the Eastern 36 as three straight incomplete passes in Eastern’s prevent defense led to a turnover with 19 seconds to go.
One knee later, the visiting aggression came away with an impressive 22-0 victory to get to the midway point of the campaign at a sterling 4-1.
“I’m proud of the team in general,” said Julius. “We did a lot of good stuff today. To get a shutout victory to close out the first half of the year is good for us.”
Bristol Eastern Football – CCC Tier III Challenge
BRISTOL EASTERN 22, ROCKY HILL 0
from Rocky Hill High School
Bristol Eastern (4-1) 14 0 0 8 – 22
Rocky Hill (0-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0
SCORING
First Period
BE – Jaiden Fore 3 run (failed run), 3:59
BE – Ryan Zavecz 28 strip return (Mikey Sherrill pass by Kamden Laprise), 1:45
Second Period
No Scoring
Third Period
No Scoring
Fourth Period
BE – Zion Otero 26 pass by Laprise (Laprise run), 8:24
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Bristol Eastern: Jaiden Fore 25-74, Adam Zavecz 3-22, Kamden Laprise 5-(minus-3); Rocky Hill: Amare Barboza 7-18, Joseph Motes 9-44, Tanoro Edwards 1-6, Oleg Korotkyy 2-12, Daryl Asante 1-8, Saadullah Khan 1-5, Team 1-(minus-28).
PASSING – Bristol Eastern: Laprise 5-for-7, 107 yards; Rocky Hill: Motes 16-of-27, 134 yards.
RECEPTIONS – Bristol Eastern: Zion Otero 3-36, Mikey Sherill 2-71; Rocky Hill: Barboza 2-10, Korotkyy 3-22, Asante 4-14, Khan 2-10, Caden Huddleston 1-11, Jaden Veal 4-67.
Records: Bristol Eastern 4-1 overall; Rocky Hill 0-4.
