SPGT's 28-20 victory played out much like a sandlot battle between heated neighborhood rivals, which is exactly how these two Nutmeg League members play it -- be it on Thanksgiving Day like it was for many years or now in mid-season.

"I like to believe we can play better than this and we need to," coach Joe Cefaratti said, hinting about tougher upcoming games with Stonington and Berlin for his 4-1 Falcons. "We've had some bumps in the road here the last couple of weeks so we need to find our 'A' game in a hurry.

"But credit Plainville and the players that make our rivalry with them what it is," Cefaratti said. "Just when it looked like we were going to deliver the knockout punch, we're back on our heels."

SPGT, leading by 20-0 at halftime, carried a 28-6 lead into the fourth quarter when suddenly, there was an alley fight at Muzzy Field as the Blue Devils took the game over.

Much like last week when Plainville scored 25 points in the fourth quarter against South Windsor, the Blue Devils were again putting together a terrific finish.

After scoring twice within a span of four minutes, Plainville created another opportunity to generate more.

The biggest chance came a couple of plays after Will Hungerford's short TD run with 8:20 remaining and a two-point conversion catch by Amit Patel closed the deficit to eight points.

SPGT, which had twice turned Plainville fumbles into scores, returned the favor as Rob Williams lost the ball and Plainville's Jared Martin recovered it near midfield.

QB Craig Vincelette (7-21-1, 187 yards), who dueled Matt Dumont (6-13, 164) of the Falcons throughout, had another crack at with the SPGT defense on the verge of collapse.

"Here we are, trying to hang onto the lead and looking for our defense to make a play, any play," Cefaratti said. "And (Rich) Caron comes up with the ball."

Plainville, with Mike Giraulo (19 carries, 169 yards) garnering yardage and the host Falcons guilty of a couple of penalties, had advanced inside the SPGT 10 with 2½ minutes to play.

On third-and-three at the nine, Giraulo found a seam off the right side but somehow lost the ball, a miscue recovered by Caron at the seven-yard line that iced Plainville's comeback bid.

"We turned the ball over all game and yet we were still in it," Plainville coach Greg Styles said. "We didn't quit, but the game isn't 24 minutes or just the fourth quarter. You have to play 48 minutes and so far this season, we're getting better but we've yet to put together a full game.

"We showed some heart," said Styles, whose forces play Northwest Catholic on Saturday. "We were out-muscled, out-hit in the first half. They have the same number of kids we have so all we talked about (during halftime) was to go out there and play some (high-energy) football."

That's something SPGT has been able to do thus far.

Mike Nadeau (12-168) had a big first quarter as the Falcons opened a 14-0 lead.

Nadeau went 47 yards for the game's first score and later caught a 32-yard strike from Dumont to get the Falcons off to a flying start.

Just before the half, SPGT tacked on another tally as Dumont clicked with Caron on a 36-yard pass.

In between, Caron squandered a SPGT chance with a fumble inside the Plainville five.

So did Hungerford.

After making a catch, Hungerford lost the handle at the two and tried desperately to regain possession but the ball bounced out of the end zone for a touchback.

The second half also featured big plays and missed opportunities, some by both teams.

The Falcons, for example, had fumble recoveries by Scott McIntyre and Caron.

The Blue Devils had a couple of razzle-dazzle plays including a 47-yard option toss by Nick Colagiovanni to Vinceletti that set up the game's final score.