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Junior defensive end Chris Cozza had a game-high three sacks for 21 yards and blocked an attempted extra point. Perhaps his biggest play was tipping a pass from NWC’s freshman QB Mike Bourdon into the hands of teammate Mark Fritz, who ran back the interception 60 yards for a touchdown.
Fritz’s run, the second-longest interception return for a TD in school history, iced the contest, giving Rocky Hill (3-5, 3-5) a 21-6 lead with 5:49 left in the game.
"The kids did a good job," Rocky Hill coach Dave Coyne said. "Defensively, they have been picking it up. Offensively, we aren’t where we want to be. But we got some plays."
Leading 2-0, the Terriers marched 80 yards on 10 plays, scoring on a 47-yard run inside by Jorrell Rush with 2:02 left in the second quarter for an 8-0 lead. The extra point kick was wide. Rocky Hill’s longest offensive play up to that point was just seven yards.
On its next possession, Northwest Catholic (1-7 Nutmeg, 1-8) lost four yards and had to punt. Rocky Hill took over on its own 20. The drive looked like it would stall at the Terrier 44 facing a third-and-10 with 43 seconds left.
But Greg Lappen ran inside, broke three tackles and scampered downfield for a 24-yard gain. Without any timeouts, Fritz spiked the ball to stop the clock and then completed a 16-yard pass to Jeff Courneen to the Indian 16-yard line with 33 seconds left.
After again spiking the ball to stop the clock, Fritz fired a sharp pass again to Courneen, who caught it at the 5-yard line, broke a tackle and spun into the end zone with 10 seconds remaining. The extra point was wide but Rocky Hill had a 14-0 lead thanks to two quick TDs in 1:50.
Northwest Catholic cut the lead to eight on its second possession of the second half with QB Mike Sarnise rifling in a 23-yard completion to Peter Bourdon with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
On its next possession, the Indians replaced Sarnise at quarterback with freshman Mike Boudon, moving Sarnise to receiver and giving Bourdon more receiving targets downfield. The Indians moved to the Rocky Hill 18 late in the third quarter but coughed up the ball after a bad pitch.
Rocky Hill added an insurance TD on Mark Fritz’s 60-yard interception return.
"We made a lot of good plays in the Enfield game but came away with nothing (in a 12-7 loss last week)," Coyne said. "We made some good plays against Vinal Tech but let that get away from us (25-21). So to make some good plays and come away with a loss here would have really hurt."
"I’m proud of the kids," he added.
Sean Burgwardt had two interceptions for Rocky Hill while Courneen had a 14-yard interception return. Nick Niro also had a sack for six yards against NWC.
Rush led all rushers with 68 yards on the ground while Mark Fritz ran for 65 yards. Eric Fritz completed 7-of-19 passes for 90 yards including four to Courneen for 42 yards.
Rocky Hill scored the first safety in school history in the first quarter when NWC long snapper Mike Reilly snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt attempt from the Indians’ 4-yard line.
