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"We played well in spots," said Middletown coach Eric Marszalek. "While I can’t be happy with a defense that gives up 30 points, coach McNamara did an excellent job scheming against our defense. They had success on offense; I give them credit."
In fact, V/C had 316 yards offense to Middletown’s 306. But V/C couldn’t hit home runs and Middletown hit them all night.
After V/C cut the lead to 14-8 on a 21-yard TD pass from Kevin Doherty to Ozzie Hill at 10:38 of the second quarter, MHS struck back on a 37-yard TD run by Speller. The Hawks cut the lead again on a two-yard TD from Manny Allen with 1:38 to go to crawl to within 21-16, but Middletown struck quickly, this time on a 67-yard bomb from Speller to Bradley with 44 seconds left.
Middletown led 28-16 at the half.
The Dragons scored on their first possession of the second half, this time on a conventional drive of 55 yards in six plays. Speller carried the ball on every play and scored from a yard out at the 5:45 mark. In fact, Speller accounted for every one of Middletown’s second half offense of 115 yards.
V/C then shot itself in the foot -- McNamara said his team "machine-gunned" itself in the foot as his Hawks made mistake after mistake -- when quarterback Doherty fumbled at his 10 yard line. The ball bounced into the end zone where MHS lineman Mike Lundell fell on it for a touchdown with 4:10 left in the third.
That gave Middletown a 42-16 lead and the game was over.
"I thought we played well in spots," said Middletown coach Eric Marszalek. "Our execution in the first half on both offense and defense left a lot to be desired, but I thought we played very hard -- and played much better -- in the second half."
V/C got a touchdown from Allen (31 carries, 138 yards) with 6:17 to go, but MHS answered with another lightning bolt. It was Speller (24 carries, 204 yards) again, this time on a 53 yard run with 5:10 left in the game. Place kicker Todd Hettrich converted all seven extra points.
V/C got a so-what TD with 38 seconds left on a one-yard plunge by Hill (9-for-84).
"It’s frustrating to get 30 points and lose by 19," said McNamara. "But my kids played real hard. I’m proud of the kids’ effort, but you still play to win and it’s frustrating not to. But it’s becoming an exciting rivalry and there was a big crowd and it was exciting for the fans."
V/C (0-8) is home Friday night for a 7 p.m. Nutmeg League game with RHAM of Hebron. Middletown (6-2) is home Saturday at 1:30 for a game with Berlin (6-2) in another league game.
