Warriors Beat Terriers in Muddy, Wet Game 14-12

The Rocky Hill football team was unable to capitalize on some early scoring opportunities and that would eventually lead to their 14-12 loss to the combined team of Valley Regional and Old Lyme at Valley Regional High School in the first round of the Class S tournament Tuesday night.

"In the first half, we had opportunities, but we had to settle for field goals," said Rocky Hill head coach Dave Coyne. "And that turned out to be the difference in the ball game.“

On their first series of the game, the Terriers were able to drive down the field, but were stalled in the red zone by the Warriors’ defense. Greg Marzilli made a 26-yard field goal for the Terriers, which would be the only the score of first quarter.

Valley Regional/Old Lyme quarterback Jimmy Fairfield-Sonn, who completed several passes during the drive, would score on a 35-yard run with 8:07 left in the second quarter to give the Warriors a 7-3 lead.

The Terriers would come right back and add another field goal with 5:52 left in the second quarter to close the gap to 7-6.

With 47 seconds left in the first half, Fairfield-Sonn would complete a five-yard touchdown pass to Chris Connor to give the Warriors a 14-6 lead going into halftime.

The Terriers came out fired up in the second half. On the opening drive, running back Chris Young would break a run for 58 yards, which would setup a one-yard touchdown run by Marzilli. However, the Terriers were unable to score on the two-point conversion.

"That was the right thing to do," Coyne said about going for the two-point conversion. "There is no question about that."

Rocky Hill would recover a fumble on the kickoff however, the Terriers would be unable to score on that drive.

The Warriors and Terriers would be held scoreless the rest of the game. Rocky Hill had one final attempt to win the game with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter. However, quarterback Andrew Jenkelunas, who replaced Troy Syme, was picked off with about 17 seconds left in the game.

“We had two pretty good football teams in a close game and they came out ahead,” Coyne said. “In the first half, we did not finish and we have to finish."

The running combo of Young and Alex DeNardo were held in check most of the game by the Warriors' defense. Young rushed for 113 yards on 18 carries and DeNardo would add 54 yards on 12 carries. Marzilli had 14 rushing yards on nine carries.

Coyne did not blame the weather for the loss, even though the field was muddy and it rained consistenly during the game.

"Not that the weather hurt us," he said. "We all played on the same field."

Looking back on the season, Coyne said he was "proud" of his team, especially how they rebounded after starting the year at 2-2. The Terriers were able to win six straight games to make the Class S tournament. 

"They did a great job. We weren't expected to be here," he said. "Coming into the season, no one expected Rocky Hill to be the state playoffs."