WINDSOR >> Jalen Ollie and Ethan Ericson hooked up four times for touchdowns as Glastonbury ran away from Windsor 49-21 at Jack O’Brien Stadium Friday night.
“Those guys were connecting tonight, I’ll tell you,” Glastonbury coach Scott Daniels said. “Ethan is amazing he made some great catches.”
Glastonbury won its ninth straight game since a 16-9 opening loss to Southington. It didn’t qualify for the state playoffs with the victory, but the Tomahawks are very close.
“We take them week by week, we have Simsbury next week and we’ll take our chances there — it’s a positive thing rolling into the playoffs,” Daniels said.
Windsor drops their third in four games, falling to 6-3.
Ollie, the Tomahawks senior quarterback, found his favorite target three times for scores in the first half. But the Warriors seemed to hang around in a CCC inter-divisional game.
Just 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game, Ollie hit Ericson for 53 yards down the right sideline. Nicholas Hobert missed the extra point, giving Glastonbury a 6-0 lead.
Windsor came right back. Tynique Woods-Culver intercepted Ollie twice in the first quarter, three times in all, but only one led to a Windsor touchdown. Even Ollie, the quarterback who he picked off had praise for the defensive backs play.
“I think we were doing pretty well when our number one (Woods-Culver) was in the game,” Windsor coach Rob Fleeting said. “He was playing well in the first quarter, then got hurt in the second quarter and some mix up when he did get back in, forgot that we told him to stay on 81’s (Ericson) side.”
With two minutes left in the first, running back Jaylen Berry took it in from 26 yards out. After Kyle Dawson’s extra point, the Warriors led 7-6, but it would be short lived.
At 9:40 left in the second quarter, the Ollie to Ericson connection continued, this time for 19 yards in the right corner of the end zone. This time Glastonbury failed on a two-point try, making the score 12-7.
Donevin O’Reilly (303 all-purpose yards) broke the longest play of the game with 4:54 left in the first half. He weaved and raced 64 yards to the end zone. Ollie hit Anthony Anisimov in the middle of the end zone to complete the two-point conversion.
But Windsor continued to hang around.
Four minutes later, Matthew Walthal took a handoff from three yards out to cut back into the lead. Dawson’s kick was good.
Ericson caught his third TD pass of the half with seven seconds to go. He used his tall frame to just outreach his defender along the left sideline in the end zone. Ollie to Anisimov for two points gave Glastonbury a 28-14 halftime lead.
The same combination that scored four points in two conversions scored six with 2:34 left in the third quarter. Anisimov made the catch for 11 yards and after a successful Hobert kick, Glastonbury was pulling away.
Windsor starting quarterback Jedidiah Haynes took some big hits and one finally took him out of the game midway through the third quarter. His backup, Tyler Coyle came in and used his legs to score. The sophomore took it in from three yards out to keep his team in the game. After the Dawson kick, the Tomahawks led 35-21. Windsor needed a stop, but they couldn’t get one.
“He has very good wheels, runs the ball very well, there are just some things that he can’t do yet, he’s a sophomore,” Fleeting said of Coyle.
At the 9:12 mark in the fourth, Ollie hit Ericson for the fourth time (20 yards) and then made some defensive stops. With time winding down, Glastonbury let Kyran McKinney-Crudden slide into the end zone with 0:28 left. Hobert kicked the final extra point giving 9-1 Glastonbury the 49-21 win.
“Just throw it up there and he goes and gets it, just like that last touchdown,” Ollie said. “We have a lot of weapons and our O-line did a phenomenal job.”
