By Phil Keren

Correspondent

Following a hard-fought 29-27 loss to Ellet on the last play of the game, Field head coach James Dutched said he urged his young team to remain focused on the tasks in front of them.

“You can’t be mad at them for anything after a game like that,” Dutched said. “It’s nobody’s fault. Mistakes were made, but those are things we can clean up. The message was to stay the course. We’re a young team, freshman quarterback, multiple freshmen on the field, multiple sophomores. As I told them, you’re going to grow and learn from that. It’s going to sting now but you’re going to grow and learn from that game and you’re going to learn how to finish these games eventually.”

On the opposite sideline, Ellet head coach Bob Sax praised his team for overcoming a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to emerge victorious.

“I’m so proud of our kids right now … we’re a really young team and we showed that we have some resiliency there,” Sax said.

It was a wild finish.

With 3 seconds remaining and Field leading 27-21, Ellet was looking at fourth-and-1 with the ball on the Field 6-yard line.

Ellet sophomore quarterback Demetrius Halsell ran a keeper and fumbled as he was tackled at the 2-yard line.

The ball rolled into the end zone and was recovered by Ellet senior wide receiver Elijah Griffin to tie the score at 27.

Field was flagged for two penalties on the scoring play, which gave Ellet the ball inside the 1-yard line for the extra-point attempt. With the advantageous field position, Sax decided to go for two and Orangeman junior wide receiver Jayden Cooper ran to his left and into the end zone to give Ellet a 29-27 win.

The teams traded scoring streaks throughout the game: Ellet went up 14-0 in the second quarter, but Field countered with 27 unanswered points to take a 27-14 lead early in the fourth period. It was then Ellet’s turn to close out the game with 15 consecutive points, and both touchdowns were set up by turnovers created by the defense.

In the first half, Field’s offense rarely saw the field due to Ellet’s ball-control offense and a muffed kickoff that was recovered by the Orangemen. Field was losing 14-0 with three minutes left in the first half and the offense up until then had only run three plays. The Falcons put together a six-play, 62-yard scoring drive to narrow Ellet’s lead to 14-8 just before halftime.

Freshman quarterback Mason Fulst connected with sophomore Alex Williams for 13 yards and threw to senior wide receiver Joey Dilworth, who broke tackles and raced down the sideline for a 26-yard gain. Four plays later, Fulst scored on a six-yard keeper on a read option play. On the extra-point attempt, Field holder Brogan Kunkle picked up a low snap, rolled out and tossed the ball into the end zone to sophomore Nehemiah Moton for a 2-point conversion to cut Ellet’s lead to 6.

At halftime, down 14-8, Dutched said he told his team, “this is a big night for the community, Suffield, Brimfield, edge of Mogadore, everybody involved, they have your back out there, so use that crowd and ride that crowd in the second half once you guys start to get some momentum.”

The players definitely heard the message as the third quarter belonged to Field. They opened with a 10-play, 73-yard scoring drive that culminated with a 4-yard touchdown run by Fulst. Thebiggest play of the drive was a 22-yard pass from Fulst to junior receiver Andrew Phillip. When the extra point was not converted, the game was tied at 14 with 8:45 remaining in the third quarter.

After the defense recorded a three-and-out, Field got the ball back and drove 46 yards in six plays — the final one a 3-yard scoring run by Fulst — to take a 21-14 lead with 4:09 left in the third period. On this drive, Fulst connected with Phillip for a 31-yard gain.

On Ellet’s next drive, Field junior linebacker Dan Strollo recovered a fumble at the Field 49-yard line. Fulst again used his arms and legs on the 10-play, 51-yard scoring drive that concluded with the freshman signal-caller scoring on a 4-yard scamper. Field led, 27-14, early in the fourth quarter.

Dutched praised the play of his young quarterback.

“He had a monster game,” Dutched said. “I told him … we’re going to open you up. They stay Cover-3 the whole time, the best thing I do as a coach is attack Cover-3 … So I said, get ready to throw the ball. Not only did he do that, he ran the ball exceptionally well. So hopefully it was a coming-of-age party, and he’s on to a long career here.”

Field then stopped an Ellet drive on downs and appeared poised to finish out the game, but Ellet’s defense had other ideas.

When Field dialed up a running play from its own 36-yard line, Orangemen sophomore defensive lineman Travontae Harbin stripped the ball from the Field back and returned it all the way to the 2-yard line. Ellet senior running back Brandon Knowles plunged into the end zone on the next play to make the score 27-21 with 4:45 to play.

Field senior running back Victor Brown then returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to the Ellet 20-yard line. On the next play, Ellet defenders again stripped the ball away from a Falcon receiver and it was recovered by Griffin at the Ellet 10-yard line. The Orangemen put together a 17-play, 90-yard drive that finished with the fumble recovery by Griffin in the end zone. Halsell threw the ball to Knowles three times for 34 yards on the scoring march.

“We’re not going to give up,” Sax said “The defense came up with two big turnovers, and we responded on offense to go down there (and score). Sometimes you just need some luck.”

On that final drive, Sax noted, “A lot of those plays were drawn up in the dirt, I’m not going to lie.”

Dutched said his team will continue to focus on doing the necessary things to close out games.

“The big message is you just got to learn how to finish games,” Dutched said. “Those two fumbles, those are things that we clean up in the future. If we don’t fumble, we don’t lose right there in those moments, but again, it’s nobody’s fault.”