Last year, the Terriers fumbled the ball away three times in the first half after their opening score en route to a 24-7 loss. When the Terriers fumbled on their second drive after scoring a touchdown on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead, head coach Dave Coyne had a sense of "deja vu." No such thing during the Terriers’ 32-0 whitewash of SMSA behind Rocky Hill’s strong running game and gang tackling defense last night.

Coyne says he has more athletes on his football team in 2005 than ever before in his six-year tenure as head coach on the Hill. The players proved it against the Hartford school.

Sparked by a first quarter one-yard touchdown plunge by senior captain Mark Fritz with 6:23 remaining in the first quarter the Terriers never looked back.

"We came out pretty good, we went down, scored, and we had a fumble, you know, which we were disappointed, because if you remember last year we came out, scored on them the first drive, and we fumbled the ball three times in the first half and they ended up coming back and beating us soundly," Coyne said.

SMSA stopped themselves in the first quarter following the only Rocky Hill turnover with two offsides penalties out of 10 charged against the Tigers for 70 yards. The Terriers were hit with seven penalties charged for 60 yards.

"We ran the ball quite well. It was the self-inflicted wounds of penalties and turnovers, that’s the thing we have to shore up, I’m more disappointed in our defense more than anything," SMSA head coach Scott Green said.

SMSA senior Dominique Rose rushed the ball 11 times for 116 yards in a losing effort, but the Tigers fumbled three times to the Terriers, and threw one interception to Terriers senior cornerback Asim Hafeez in the fourth quarter.

The Terriers got on the board again when senior fullback Greg Lappen (11 carries, 140 yards) rumbled 61 yards off right tackle and down the visitor’s sideline on Rocky Hill’s second possession of the second quarter.

The Terriers followed that with a 21-yard ramble around left end by junior Eric Lecco with 1:37 left in the first half with the PAT by Chris Tyler that put Rocky Hill ahead 19-0 at halftime. The five-play, 70-yard drive resulting in Lecco’s touchdown included a 16-yard pass from senior quarterback Doug Elliot to Lappen, a 15-yard personal foul penalty against SMSA, and a 13-yard pass from Elliot to Bobby Abate.

Rocky Hill got one more scoring opportunity before the halftime buzzer sounded, but Tyler just slightly pulled a 35-yard field goal attempt past the left goal post.

In the third quarter, a second SMSA fumble covered by the Terriers’ Ryan Bengston resulted in a first-and-10 at the SMSA 49 and a five-play drive started by a Lappen 13-yard run, and two plays later a 24-yard scamper by Lappen down to the three-yard line. Lappen finished the drive by calmly carrying the football into the end zone with 5:45 remaining in the quarter. The PAT by Tyler made it 26-0.

The Terriers capped their scoring with a 10-play drive, all running plays, that ended with sophomore Dan Carducci breaking into the end zone with 9:27 remaining in the game.

"It was great, we started off a little sluggish, but we pulled together, started playing together as a team near the end and we started to show some potential in the end," Elliot said. "This one tonight we all came to play, no one was there just going through the motions. We all came out fired and ready to go, so came out and got a win," Elliot added.

Rocky Hill gained 399 yards total offense vs. 200 yards gained by the Tigers.

After Friday night, things look bright for Rocky Hill. Coyne and his players know their chances are substantial to be contenders as the Nutmeg League schedule opens for the Terriers next Saturday at Avon.

"We’re more athletic, okay, than we’ve been ever; we’ve had big people before; we’ve had strong people before; we’ve never had as many athletes before, you know we’ve had some good athletes, but not the number of good athletes that we have now, and that’s a big difference," Coyne said.