But, for all the seniors on the field playing their final high school games, it was two juniors and a sophomore for the V-C Hawks that provided the big difference in a 27-14 win.

Sophomore tailback Antonio Inglis ran for 174 yards and a score on just 15 carries and quarterback Todd Manjuck, a junior, ran for 91 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown gallop.

The second junior, who may have had the biggest impact on the game, was 6-foot-3, 284-pound right tackle Shawn Meadows.

"He was a big kid," Plainville coach Mack Scott, who finishes his first year at 2-9, said of Meadows. "One time we put our kid in there and he said he got double-teamed and we let him know that it’s a 69 and not a 6 and a 9 double-teaming you. He’s a big kid and they ran right behind him all day. .. He hurt us."

V-C ran for 368 yards on the ground on 52 attempts, with the majority of the yardage coming on Meadows’ side, which also had 6-0, 192-pound guard Luke Whitehouse.

"..Sean Meadows is as good a blocker as there is," said Hawks’ coach Bob McNamara. "We ran behind him, we ran right for a reason."

V-C finishes its first winning season with a 6-4-1 record, the most wins in the program’s four-year varsity history.

"Our seniors, particularly, the first year we went varsity, a lot of them had to play varsity ball," McNamara said, "so to see them come full cycle and be in charge of their own destiny (to finish with a winning record) is a great thing."

For all the yards the Hawks put up (417 in total), it was the defense that came up with the big plays for the win.

On the third play of the second quarter, Meadows tackled the Blue Devils’ Alan Niedzwiecki for a one-yard loss and a safety, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. The safety came about after the Plainville defense stopped Matt Calcagni inches short of the end zone on a fourth-down attempt.

Then, up 15-0 in the third quarter, Todd Larese stepped in front of a Plainville receiver to give V-C a first-and-10 at the Plainville 40. A 35-yard run by Inglis moved the ball to the five and Manjuck scored his second TD of the game, from one yard out for a 21-0 lead.

Plainville had 300 yards of offense, led by Will Hungerford’s 98 yards on the ground, but another interception hurt on the next drive.

"We scouted them a lot, coach (Wayne) Zalaski, he used to coach at Plainville, so he knew the kids a little bit," said McNamara. "Our kids just studied real hard on their tendencies and they made the plays for us."

Quarterback Mike Snyder hooked up with Shawn Thibault on a pretty throw-and-catch down the sideline for a 24-yard gain and first down at the Hawks’ 29. An eight-yard run by Niedzwiecki (63 yards) and two-yard gain by Jared Martin moved the ball inside the 20. But, the drive stopped abruptly again when Whitehouse picked off Snyder.

"We were becoming very one-dimensional, running the ball, running the ball, running the ball, and they started to adjust," Scott said. "We have to throw the ball. Our quarterback, it was his second game he’s ever played quarterback, he’s a young kid and we’re trying to build him for next year. We knew mistakes were going to happen. Hopefully he learned from the mistakes and won’t make the mistakes next year."

Mike Cabelus added a one-yard run with 5:01 to play in the fourth for a 27-0 V-C lead before two late Devils’ scores closed the gap.

Hungerford had an exciting 46-yard run, slipping several tackles at the line of scrimmage, finishing the quick three-play drive with a seven-yard run up the middle with 4:24 remaining.

Hungerford, now playing quarterback, hooked up with Martin on a wide-open post pattern for a 35-yard TD pass with 46 seconds remaining.

V-C’s first touchdown came when Inglis broke a tackle at the line and sprinted 67 yards with 8:17 to play in the second.

"In any football game, you don’t want to give up the big play, and they had a few big plays,"

Scott said. "They actually moved the ball pretty well without big plays. (Plainville was) out of position a couple of times, there were quite a few missed tackles. Our defense is usually pretty good; the big plays hurt, but they played a good game."

A 67-yard TD option run by Manjuck, who cut up field on a third-and-3 play, increased the advantage to 15-0 with3:29 remaining in the first half.

Rob Lessard had an interception for Plainville in the third quarter and Aaron Weinhofer recovered a fumble in the second quarter.

Brian Straight can be reached at bstraight@newbritainherald.com.