Fortunately, Farmington coach Jeff Bemis, his team trailing by two points in the game’s final minute against Vinal Tech/Coginchaug Friday night, on fourth-and-3 from the Hawks’ 29 yard line, called for a pass play.

The play’s success was such that the Indians’ Anthony Aniello actually had time to recall his own thoughts as quarterback Steve Harrington’s high spiral swirled in his direction with nary a Vinal/Coginchaug defender nearby.

"Drop it, catch it, drop it, catch it," Aniello recalled thinking afterward. "I caught it, stumbled, and finally went into the end zone. It was the best feeling of my entire life."

Aniello’s catch and step into the end zone capped a wild final minute of play as Farmington (2-2) posted a come-from-behind 19-14 win with 33 seconds remaining in Nutmeg League action.

For Vinal (2-1-1) coach Bob McNamara, the play was an unfortunate byproduct of a disappointing second half posted by the Hawks’ offense.

"Obviously you can’t win with a second half of offense like that," McNamara said, whose club ran 11 plays, gained 3 yards, and lost two fumbles, including one on the Hawks’ final play after Farmington took the lead.

McNamara and the Hawks had every right to be proud of the defense, which, despite allowing 324 yards to Farmington, had refused to yield the lead despite playing most of the second half in the shadow of its own end zone.

In fact, stopping Farmington’s Nick Bliss (24 carries, 148 yards) on third down to set up the fourth-down play may have caused the Hawks to be thinking run first on the fourth-down play.

"No, no, no," Bemis countered, whose sideline was looking in the direction of Sean Garvey for what would have been a 46-yard field goal. "There’s no field goal there. I had plenty of options on that play. I had the tailback wide, I could have gone to the flanker, but Steve Harrington saw something I didn’t see."

"I saw the linebacker commit from the right side," Harrington agreed. "And I threw it."

And once Aniello broke past the run-committed linebacker, there was nobody deep in the Vinal/Coginchaug secondary, a point underscored by a jubilant Aniello.

"They had eight (men) in the box, so I knew I just had one man to beat," Aniello said, saying he was excited about the daring fourth down call. "I was so happy, I was overjoyed. It was my time to prove (himself)."

For Vinal/Coginchaug, it offset a fine first half, in which Mike Cabelus scored two touchdowns to give Vinal/Coginchaug a 14-6 lead at intermission.

"We had poor field position the entire half," McNamara pointed out, his club’s second-half possessions starting at its own 30, 22, 25, 15, and 19 yard-lines. "It prevented me from running (some more open) plays."

Still, the disappointed coach credited Farmington. "They made some adjustments (at halftime)," McNamara noted. His club, which gained 130 of its 166 first-half yards on the ground, had only three plays for positive yardage in the second half.

Harrington (8-for-17, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 139 yards) hooked up with Sean Gerhart (4 grabs, 75 yards) for the Indians’ first two touchdowns in his first varsity start.