By Michael Letendre
STORRS — Missed opportunities foiled the Bristol Eastern football team on Friday night as the program dropped a tough 24-14 decision to Edwin O. Smith in a CCC Tier III tilt from Storrs.
The loss dropped the program to 5-3 overall while the Panthers improved to that very same mark.
It was a tough night for Bristol special teams as the unit dropped punt, allowed a touchdown on a kickoff return and a critical penalty on a missed field goal by the Panthers stopped the Lancers in their tracks.
“Unfortunately, it’s a major part of the game,” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius of the special team miscues. “We didn’t make enough plays in that phase tonight.”
The contest was a complete mess, for both teams, due to penalty, after penalty, after penalty — leading to a combined 220 penalty yards and, over the first 14 minutes of the showdown, 10 penalties were called as officials handed out yellow flags like people gave out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween just last week.
But there were very few treats in this back-and-forth affair.
Eastern had chances to win this one thanks to a tremendous second-half defensive effort as the Panthers were allowed just one late score in the game.
But that touchdown gambit essentially ended the contest.
The showdown started off well as Eastern marched 67 yards off 10 plays on its first drive.
Back Jaiden Fore, BE’s newest 1,000-yard rusher, made a one-yard gallop into the end zone and with 5:50 left to play in the first period, it was a 7-0 game thanks to Aiden Liseo’s PAT.
However, Smith responded with a five-play series as E.O. quarterback Connor Ouellette found Justin Beaton for a slick 30-yard TD strike — tying things up at 7-7 at the 3:18 mark of the first period.
But the game truly became bizarre after that scoring drive.
On Eastern’s ensuing possession, receiver Mikey Sherrill could not haul in a pass from quarterback Kamden Laprise (9-for-19, 110 yards) and the official nearest the play immediately signaled no catch.
But as the ball was dropped, it was picked up by a Panthers’ defender who started to run with the football.
The play was ruled day but after a brief discussion by the officials — that truly wasn’t so brief — the call was overturned and ruled a fumble, giving the home team the ball despite protests from Julius and his staff.
Four plays later, Smith was stuck on Eastern’s 42-yard line as the defense forced a punt.
But the punted ball was not cleanly caught on a fair catch and the Panthers got it back, retaining possession and earning a fresh set of downs.
The drive went into the second stanza and thanks to a huge tackle for a loss by Ryan Zavecz and Lincoln Bashaw, Smith was forced to kick a 28-yard field goal.
A false start sent the team back five yards and on the 33-yard retry, which completely missed its mark, the sideline official called Eastern for an encroachment penalty despite the line not moving and Smith got the ball back to the 28.
This time, the kick was good as Smith moved ahead in the showdown 10-7 with 11:06 to go in the half.
“We forced a missed field goal, but we had a procedural pre-snap penalty that gave them another chance at it,” said Julius. “These things hurt in game against a quality opponent.”
Both teams then exchanged punts but midway through the second period, Eastern started a drive from Smith’s 46 due to a personal foul.
Over the drive, Laprise found Noah Albert (four catches, 47 yards) for a big 17-yard connection and then it was all Fore from there.
Fore made six straight rushes to get Eastern in the red zone and finally, he hopped into the goal, literally, via an eight-yard dash – and with 2:13 to go in the first half, Eastern retook the lead at 14-10.
“They were able to capitalize on a huge return and, I thought, we kind of taken the momentum back, scoring late there in the first half to go up 14-10, said Julius.”
Then Smith, a program that has played most of its games from behind this year, saw Sam DeJesus rip off a 79-yard kickoff return as the Panthers retook the lead at 17-14 with 1:58.
“E.O. was missing a lot of players early on in the season,” said Julius. “They kind of stubbed their toes early but they’re a quality football team. They’re very physical. They’re well coached.”
Smith took that three-point lead into the locker room but was not able to immediately add to it thanks to Eastern’s stout defense.
Hunter Wells had a huge tackle for a loss on Smith’s first series out of the break while the defense held on again over the next drive.
An Eastern fumble with 1:51 to play in the third gave Smith the ball back — going all the way to the Eastern seven before being stopped.
Two penalties pushed Smith back to the 17 and an Ouellette pass was picked off in the end zone by Eastern’s Bryce Bacote as the 14-10 score lasted deep into the final period.
“The defense kept giving us the ball back,” said Julius. “Then they kind of sputtered out on a play or two. It would put us behind the sticks and get us off schedule. That hurt us a little bit tonight [and] we weren’t able to recover.”
After an Eastern punt, Smith stalled out on Eastern’s 41 and with 5:27 to play, the visiting aggression was looking for the game-winning score.
Fore made a 15-yard jaunt on the ensuing drive and the squad got to the Smith 40 before turning the ball over with 2:17 to play.
And finally, the Panthers pushed across one final score as a game-changing 50-yard rush by Isaiah DeJesus got the squad into the red zone and the ball carrier ended the series with a six-yard TD sprint up the middle for an insurance score – making it 24-14 with 1:43 to go.
Eastern couldn’t return the favor in the end as Smith hung on to win the showdown by 10 points.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough to win tonight,” said Julius. “It’s really what it comes down to. There are still multiple games left to be played. We can still finish our season on a high note but we kind of have to dig in here a little bit, get some things corrected and kind of go from there.”
NOTES…Adam Zavecz, getting his usual quota of tackles, made two receptions for 34 yards…Eastern wrangled up 219 total yards in offense while E.O. tallied 247.
Bristol Eastern Football – CCC Tier III Showdown
EDWIN O. SMITH 24, BRISTOL EASTERN 14
from Edwin O. Smith High School
Bristol Eastern (5-3) 7 7 0 0 – 14
Edwin O. Smith (5-3) 7 10 0 7 – 24
SCORING
First Period
BE – Jaiden Fore 1 run (Aiden Liseo kick), 5:52
EO – Noah Cordone 11 pass by Connor Ouellette (Anthony Bolduc kick), 3:18
Second Period
EO – Bolduc 28 field goal, 11:06
BE – Fore 8 run (Liseo kick), 2:13
EO – Sam DeJesus 79 kickoff return (Bolduc kick), 1:58
Third Period
*No Scoring
Fourth Period
EO – Isaiah DeJesus 6 run (Bolduc kick), 1:43
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Bristol Eastern: Jaiden Fore 25-91, Kamden Laprise 6-18 ; E.O. Smith – Connor Ouellette 13-51. Sam DeJesus 9-20, Isaiah DeJesus 5-66.
PASSING – Bristol Eastern: Laprise 9-for-19, 110 yards; E.O. Smith – Ouellette 9-for-16, 110 yards.
RECEPTIONS – Bristol Eastern: Adam Zavecz 2-34, Noah Albert 4-47, Ryan Corvo 1-10, Mikey Sherrill 1-11, Bryce Bacote 1-8; E.O. Smith – Sam DeJesus 1-0, Jack Danville 3-44, Noah Cordone 1-30, Joey Baker 3-34, Isaiah DeJesus 1-2.
Records: Edwin O. Smith 5-3 overall; Bristol Eastern 5-3.
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