Photo gallery courtesy of The Day of New London
WATERFORD – How often do you see a high school football team put together two 17-play drives in the same game – or better yet, in the same postseason game?
Waterford managed to do it twice on Wednesday night in its Class M state quarterfinal. The first drive amounted to nothing. The second put the Lancers in position to clinch their first postseason victory.
Sam Menders’ field goal capped that second long drive and Waterford’s defense held up on Granby/Canton’s final possession, allowing No. 2 seed Waterford to celebrate the 10-6 victory at home.
“We knew it would be tough and we were expecting it to be close,” junior Jackson Harshberger said.
2019 CIAC FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCOREBOARD / SCHEDULE
The Lancers (10-1) shut out No. 7 Granby/Canton (8-3) in the second half. Waterford will now host No. 3 Killingly Monday in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m.
“We will celebrate this, come back and start working for Killingly,” Waterford coach John Streckner said.
Said Menders: “We knew we could count on our defense to stop them.”
After Granby/Canton, both schools seeking its first taste of postseason victory before becoming a co-op this season, didn’t convert a first down on the opening play of the fourth quarter, the Bears punted. Thus began the second 17-play drive for Waterford.
Harshberger converted the first fourth-down play and Trey Brennan the second in order to keep the lengthy drive alive.
“Hopefully we could run the clock out and score a touchdown,” Strecker said. “We ran the ball better than we expected. Generally, we are a throw-the-ball-first team, but not tonight.”
Granby/Canton was finally able to push back Waterford, enabling Menders to kick his career-long of 35 yards to make it 10-6 with 3:44 left.
“Kicking is so routine. I spend every day here kicking,” Menders said. “Blocking out (the crowd noise) is something you have to be able to do.”
Sam Menders with the career-long 35 yard field goal for Waterford. #cthsfb pic.twitter.com/MqMzxqQzyh
— Joe Morelli (@nhrJoeMorelli) December 5, 2019
Said Strecker: “His distance tonight in warmups was like 10 yards longer than usual.”
Granby/Canton quickly moved the ball into Waterford territory with just under 2 minutes left. But a penalty, sack and consecutive pass incompletions and that ended Granby/Canton’s hopes.
“We knew it would be a close game. Everyone is here for a reason,” Granby/Canton coach Eric Shortell said. “There are no gimme games when you get into the playoffs. We knew it would be a battle, it just didn’t roll our way.”
Here is the fumble recovered by I believe Dontel William’s for Granby/Canton. #cthsfb pic.twitter.com/dQhAl0CqQc
— Joe Morelli (@nhrJoeMorelli) December 5, 2019
Granby/Canton opened the scoring in the second quarter. Samuel Attianese went 41 yards for the touchdown, but the Bears missed the extra point. On its ensuing possession, Waterford went 66 yards in in nine plays, capped by Brennan’s 17-yard run.
It was Menders’ extra point that put Waterford up 7-6.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Sam Menders, Waterford: Kicker had the deciding extra point, then added a 35-yard field goal to put the Lancers up by four with 3:44 left.
QUOTABLE
“We played (Killingly) the last two years. This group was 0-10 (in 2017) and Killingly whooped up on us. Last year, they were 3-7 and Killingly whooped up on us.” — Waterford coach John Strecker
