By Michael Letendre
The Bristol Central football team made it eight straight Thanksgiving Day victories in a row over Bristol Eastern on Thursday, holding off the pesky Kingstreeters by a 14-7 final from Muzzy Field in the 64th edition of the Battle for the Bell.
The Rams, ending the season at a credible 5-5 overall, got several big contributions over the winning effort while Eastern (6-4) was never out of contention until the final horn sounded.
Central led 14-0 through three quarters, saw that edge trimmed to seven late with Eastern still maintaining possession of the ball but simply refused to let the Lancers draw even – or go ahead – in the end.
“We played with great composure all morning,” said Central coach Jeff Papazian. “We hammered that home for two weeks that it was going to be an emotional game and we had to make less mistakes. I thought we kept it a lot closer than it should have been in the first half with a couple of mistakes.”
“Even in the second half we made it interesting but credit to our kids because they hung in there, kept swinging and swinging and pulled out a great win.”
Central’s Donovan Rodriguez earned the Thomas R. Monahan Offensive Player of the Game Award (26 carries, 91 yards, TD) as he carried the offensive load for the squad, directing traffic while finding teammate Quincy Lawson for two receptions (26 yards), one leading to a touchdown.
Anthony Paulino scooped up 78 yards on nine carries while Jayden Glasper (8-30) and a big, surprise carry by Tim Sample (21 yards) saw Central gain over 200 yards on the ground.
Defensively, Jack Jones (18 tackles) was everywhere on the grass field from Muzzy, making several critical tackles to earn the Defensive Player of the Game honors for the Rams.
He made big tackle after big tackle, including two for losses, and did not allow Eastern’s offense much overall in terms of red zone penetration.
“On top of all the stuff you see, there’s so much stuff you don’t see out of him in terms of controlling the alignment, in terms of getting us lined up, in terms of checking out certain formations and situations,” said Papazian of Jones.
Also playing well defensively was Aiden Lamarre (seven tackles), Jack Hartley (six), Ayden Pratt (six), Luis Padilla (four tackles), Jayden Colon (four), Lawson (four) and Glasper (three) among others.
BE quarterback Kamden Laprise did a little of everything for his squad over the losing effort, nabbing Eastern’s Offensive Player of the Game honors.
He connected 10 of 23 passes for 96 yards while making six carries for 61 yards and a touchdown.
“He had a nice game today,” said Julius of Laprise. “I’m really proud of him, happy about the season that he had, and it’s definitely something to build on for him.”
Adam Zavecz, the Eastern Defensive Player of the Game, made 10 tackles and played extremely well in his final contest for the Lancers.
Eastern nabbed seven tackles for a loss with Noah Albert making two.
Alex Corvo, Adam and Ryan Zavecz, J’Kai Hickey-Davis, Mickey Sherrill and Lincoln Bashaw all collected tackles that pushed Central behind the line of scrimmage that day.
Eastern played extremely well defensively overall but a couple big plays by Central burned the squad in the end.
“They hit us with a few explosives which we were trying to limit,” said Julius of Central. “They completed a couple big pass plays, especially down in the red zone. That was kind of the difference for them on offense. For the most part, we held them in check but [Central] did what they’ve done for most of the year.”
“They stayed on the field, was able to churn up clock and kind of limit our possessions.”
Returning to health (offensively) for the final game of the season, Chase Dauphinee made six receptions for 62 yards while Hayden Tichy added two catches for 20 yards.
Sherrill had a catch for 14 yards while Jaiden Fore (one reception, 18 carries, 42 yards) added something to the till.
Central went six plays on the opening drive but fumbled the ball away as Eastern’s Alex Corvo snatched it up at the Rams’ 38-yard line.
The Lancers managed to get into the red zone off the turnover, but the drive was stalled at the Central five-yard line as a big tackle by Tim Sample forced the switch.
With the game scoreless going into the second period, Central had a tremendous series, marching downfield 95 yards to eventually punch in the ball.
Rodriguez made a slick dump to Quincy Lawson for a 16-yard reception on third down and then, stuck on a long 10-yard spot on fourth and goal, the quarterback went to work again.
This time, under pressure, Rodriguez flicked a ball to Lawson who made a slick catch as he was falling down in the end zone for a touchdown.
Lamarre punched home the PAT and with 5:24 left before the half, the Rams held the lead at 7-0.
Central’s defense held the fort, forcing Eastern to go four and out on the ensuing drive to keep the squad scoreless.
“We shut them down. We did a good job” against Eastern said Papazian. “Fore runs hard and Laprise is a good quarterback. He adds another dimension to their team. From last year, we felt like if we could bottle Fore and do a good enough job on him [and] try to make the quarterback win the game. That’s kind of how it played out.”
The Kingstreeters stopped the Rams quickly on the flip side, forcing a four-and-six situation but Central faked the punt with 1:35 left in the second period.
Sample took the ball down the Central sideline for a 21-yard gallop and a huge first down.
Two plays later, a strip by Adam Zavecz saw Alex Corvo pounce on the ball as another turnover kept the Rams from notching a follow-up score.
“The defense played really hard,” said Julius. “They turned [Central] over a bunch of times. They kept giving us opportunities to get down there and go.”
“Unfortunately, we just didn’t make enough plays to get the job done today.”
Tichy made two late catches in an attempt to return to the Central red zone but time ran out as the Rams took their 7-0 edge into the twenty-four minute halftime break.
After halftime, the Kingstreeters went right back to work but got stuck on the Central 27, turning the ball over on downs while the Rams went for another seven points.
This time, Central traveled 65 yards for an insurance score although Eastern didn’t make it easy.
The Lancers appeared to have the Rams shutdown but on a third-and-9 play, Paulino turned a small gain into a 29-yard sprint – capturing a first down at the Eastern 35.
Rodriguez appeared to have scored on a 12-yard sprint up the middle, but a holding penalty snuffed out the touchdown.
However, on a fourth-and-11 gambit, Paulino crashed up the middle for a 15-yard gallop and scoring from the one, Rodriguez went up the gut for six, giving the Rams a 14-0 cushion with 1:45 remaining in the third tilt.
The Kingstreeters then went six plays before turning the ball over at midfield but off a Central punt, the squad got the football back with 8:35 to play.
And this time around, the Lancers found pay dirt.
Stuck on its side of the field, Laprise took the ball on a fourth-and-four play from the Eastern 38.
Laprise skirted through the middle, sprinted away from the pack and down the Eastern sideline – truly making something out of nothing – and scored on a team season-high 62-yard TD rush.
And when Aiden Liseo kicked in the extra point, Eastern was knocking at the door — trailing just 14-7 with 6:10 to go.
Eastern then placed an on-the-money onside kick, easily getting the ball over the required 10-yard mark, and when the Lancers’ Honor Kim pounced on the ball, the Kingstreeters regained possession, a fresh set of downs and was looking for a back-to-back score with a boatload of momentum.
But Eastern went four-and-out, ending up just about at midfield and with 4:10 remaining, Central was looking to run the clock out.
Glasper made a huge 11-yard run for a first down but Eastern used all of its timeouts to slow the clock as Central’s offense eventually stalled out on Eastern’s 40.
The Rams ended up punting the ball to the Eastern eight and with less than ninety-seconds to play, the Lancers had a ton of ground to make up.
Laprise found Sherrill for a 14-yard connection for a first down on the first play but four incomplete passes later, Central got the ball back and had the victory in hand.
“I feel for the team. They prepped really well,” said Julius of Eastern. “They played hard and, obviously, we wanted a better result but we didn’t get it unfortunately.”
The Rams finished the game with two knees by Rodriguez and at the final buzzer, the squad had won its eighth consecutive Thanksgiving game, this one by a 14-7 final.
“It means over the past eight years, we’ve had a lot of good players here that have wanted to be great,” said Papazian of beating Eastern for the eighth time in a row on Thanksgiving. “And we’ve had some great players that wanted to be even better than great. I’m had really good assistant coaches the whole time too.”
“A lot of them have been here since the start so we’ve got consistency [and] continuity with those guys.”
BATTLE FOR THE BELL (CCC Tier II/III Football Challenge)
BRISTOL CENTRAL 14, BRISTOL EASTERN 7
from Muzzy Field, Bristol
Bristol Eastern (6-4) 0 0 0 7 – 7
Bristol Central (5-5) 0 7 7 0 – 14
SCORING
First Period
*No Scoring
Second Period
BC – Quincy Lawson 23 pass by Donovan Rodriguez (Aiden Lamarre kick), 5:24
Third Period
BC – Donovan Rodriguez one run (Lamarre kick), 1:45
Fourth Period
BE – Kamden Laprise 62 run (Aiden Liseo kick), 6:10
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Bristol Eastern: Jaiden Fore 18-42, Adam Zavecz 1-(minus-5), Kamden Laprise 6-61, Chase Dauphinee 1-8; Bristol Central: Donavan Rodrigez 26-91, Anthony Paulino 9-78, Jayden Glasper 8-30, tim Sample 1-21.
PASSING – Bristol Eastern: Laprise 10-for-23, 96 yards; Bristol Central: Rodriguez 2-for-3, 26 yards.
RECEPTIONS – Bristol Eastern: Hayden Tichy 2-20, Dauphinee 6-62, Fore 1-0, Mikey Sherrill 1-14; Bristol Central: Quincy Lawson 2-26.
Records: Bristol Central 5-5 overall; Bristol Eastern 6-4.
Battle for the Bell: Thomas R. Monahan – Players of the Game Awards
BE Offense: Kamden Laprise
BE Defense: Adam Zavecz
BC Offense: Donovan Rodriguez
BC Defense: Jack Jones
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