By Michael Letendre
HEBRON — Simply put, the football program from Bristol Eastern can officially be dubbed as road warriors.
This season, it’s been 12 quarters of shutout ball away from the friendly confines of Alumni Field which included Saturday’s 34-0 triumph at RHAM High School in Hebron during a CCC Tier III tilt on a delightful Saturday afternoon.
This was a statement game for the Eastern program (5-2 overall) coming off that heartbreaking 7-6 loss to Platt the previous week.
“We talked about it before the game, last week stung,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius of the loss to Platt. “We came really close against a really quality opponent. We didn’t come away victorious in a situation where it’s kind of a gut check moment. Today, we played a team that’s been competitive with everybody which has been RHAM all year long and showed a lot of character today.”
“We stepped up, we were physical right from the jump, had a great drive to end the half, punch one in late, get the ball, take eight minutes off the clock to start the third quarter, score and it really couldn’t go any better.”
Defense led to offense as Eastern possessed the ball for large chucks of the game as the Raptors were kept in neutral for most of the game — amassing just 120 total yards.
RHAM had the ball for just over 19 minutes and at one point, Eastern possessed the pigskin 40 times out of 44 straight plays — simply dominating over stretches of the challenge.
The Lancers stopped the run game in its tracks and then limited RHAM’s passing to less than 100 yards.
“When you start putting teams from behind, they had to do some things out of their character, our defense seems to thrive even more,” said Julius.
All that time with the ball saw Eastern senior back Jaiden Fore, completely healthy after being limited a bit against Platt, rack up 200 yards rushing on 37 carries for three touchdowns over a simply tremendous effort as he just ran over defenders to help Eastern capture 17 first downs.
“I was coming off concussion protocol, so I wasn’t getting the ball a lot [against] Platt but this was a statement game,” said Fore of the victory at RHAM. “I had to do what I had to do, and we came out with a ‘W.’”
But the Raptors did just enough to hang around early before two suffocating drives turned a 6-0 game into a 20-0 push — putting the game away in style.
In what Eastern head coach termed a “statement drive” going into the half, Ryan Zavecz recovered a RHAM fumble at Eastern’s 12 — turning the theft into a massive 88-yard, 19 play scoring drive.
Adam Zavecz (five carries, 59 yards), Randy Denote (three catches, 28 yards), Noah Albert and Fore eventually got the offense into the red zone.
And with 12 seconds left before the half, Fore twisted his way into the end zone for a one-yard score to post the Lancers to a 12-0 push — a score that lasted into the third period.
And then a 70-yard, 14 play gambit paid off when Fore again rushed a ball into the end zone, scoring from the one-yard line as he was hit on his way up the gut.
Eastern QB Kamden Laprise (6-for-9, 59 yards, TD) sealed off the drive when he ran in a slick two-point conversion to make it a 20-0 push with 4:12 to go in the third tilt.
On the ensuing drive, Adam Zavecz made a tackle for a loss, and off the punt, the Lancers hit the pay window again — this time on a seven-play beauty.
Laprise found Ryan Corvo for a 12-yard TD strike and with 10:00 straight up in the game, an Aiden Liseo PAT pushed the RHAM’s deficit to 27-0.
Albert then made his interception, Fore added one final run to capture his 200th yard and when the reserves hit the grass field midway through the fourth, the game was all but over.
“Our defense is strong,” said Fore. “We haven’t let up a point so far on the road. We take defense really seriously here especially if we can get [opponent’s] offense off the field and our offense on, that’s a good thing.”
Nelson Riley (three rushes, 28 yards) eventually juked, jived, and crashed his way into the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown rush and with 7:07 left, Eastern’s edge reached 34-0.
That also prompted a running clock to end the affair.
And the Raptors final drive stalled on the Eastern 36 and one Alex Corvo knee later, Eastern were 34 points victors on the road.
“I’m happy and I’m very proud of the effort,” said Julius. “It’s not always easy to come back from a tough loss but we did that today.”
NOTES…Nelson Riley’s touchdown was first of his scholastic career, Naseem Walker-Jenkins made two tackles on special teams and Lincoln Bashaw added a sack as several players made gains on the turf. Sovannara Nuon had some big tackles that afternoon as Eastern has now won back-to-back games at RHAM on its grass field.
Bristol Eastern Football – CCC Tier III Challenge
BRISTOL EASTERN 34, RHAM 0
from RHAM High School
Bristol Eastern (5-2) 6 6 8 14 – 34
RHAM (3-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0
SCORING
First Period
BE – Jaiden Fore 5 run (failed kick), 7:20
Second Period
BE – Fore 1 run (failed throw), 0:12
Third Period
BE – Fore 1 run (Kamden Laprise run), 4:11
Fourth Period
BE – Ryan Corvo 12 pass by Laprise (Aiden Liseo kick), 10:00
BE – Nelson Riley 20 run (Liseo kick), 7:20
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Bristol Eastern: Jaiden Fore 37-200, Adam Zavecz 5-59, Nelson Riley 3-28, Alex Corvo 2-(minus-1); RHAM – Daniel Mantilla 8-15, Caden Bellmore 1-(minus-1), Chris Ford 1-0, Angelo Caccamo 1-4, Jame Bucior 1-5.
PASSING – Bristol Eastern: Laprise 6-for-9, 54 yards; RHAM – Chris Ford 6-for-16, 90 yards; Joe Farley 1-for-1, 4 yards.
RECEPTIONS – Bristol Eastern: Randy Denoto 3-28, Noah Albert 1-12, Ryan Corvo 1-12, Mikey Sherrill 1-2; RHAM – Caden Bellmore 2-39, Fahey 1-13, Dan Mantilla 3-28, Ford 1-4.
Records: Bristol Eastern 5-2 overall; RHAM 3-4.
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