Bears Drop Heartbreaker On Final Play, 33-28

The Stonington-Waterford game was one of four choices for MyTV9's Game of the Week to be rebroadcast Saturday. State voters selected Windsor-Newington. They blew it.

Many thought Waterford's 20-14 win over Stonington last year was the 2010 ECC Game of the Year. Well, Waterford's victory over the Bears Friday in the season opener at SHS could rank as the ECC's Game of Decade.

In a wildly entertaining game that featured unstoppable first-half offenses, second-half defensive adjustments and two lead changes in the last three minutes, including the game-winning score on the game's last play, Waterford trimmed Stonington, 33-28.

Brian Gencarelli's 1-yard quarterback sneak on the final play was the margin of difference, capping a wild final two minutes and snatching what would have been Stonington's finest victory in years against a larger opponent believed to be a solid favorite in this game.

"It would have been extremely disappointing to start off the season 0-1, considering how hard we worked off season and in preseason camp," Gencarelli said. "But we expected a large crowd and a fired up Stonington after the comeback win we had last year."

, graduating a pair of 1,000-yard rushers, several linemen and its quarterback. While most ECC pundits pinned the rebuilding tag on the Bears, Stonington stood toe-to-toe with a seemingly faster, bigger and more experienced Lancer squad and looked like a team capable of contending in its ECC Small Division.

The Bears took a 28-27 lead with 3:13 left on Eddie Rathbun's 7-yard pass to end Kyle Woodworth on fourth down and Peter Hoops' PAT. It was the second half's only touchdown after Waterford took a 27-21 halftime lead in an early shootout.

Waterford took two timeouts on Stonington's go-ahead, eight-minute, 68-yard drive but had one remaining. With 12 seconds left, Lancer sophomore fullback Bishme Sheppard (138 yards, 2 TDs) burst up the middle toward the goal line only to have SHS defensive back Arrow Johnson jar him and cause a fumble. Lancer lineman Tucker Murphy recovered on the one.

SHS celebrated, thinking the game was over. But WHS had a timeout. On the next play, Gencarelli plunged between center and guard Ivar Wirta for the score.

"It was exciting," Waterford coach Mike Ellis said. "We took two timeouts on Stonington's long drive. I was ready to use another one on our final drive, but every time I was going to call it, we went out of bounds, or there was an incomplete pass or first down, so I had one at the end."

Gencarelli hit David Zaldivar for 29 yards in a key play and scrambled for 13 on the frenetic 65 yard final drive. The late offensive show resembled the first half when both teams were unstoppable.

Bishme Sheppard, a sophomore, scored two TDs on runs of 6 and 29 yards. Senior older brother Y-Kim Sheppard added a 3-yard TD run and a 20-yard TD reception from Gencarelli. Stonington scored on runs of 38 and 20 yards by Brandon Hall and 28 by Zach Poirier as the Lancers took a 27-21 lead into halftime.

Stonington, which returned much fewer starters than Waterford, looked impressive with a deep set of runners including Hall, Poirier (86 yards), Harry Calmar and Johnson. Rathbun threw the ball well in his first game at QB, and an offensive line mixed with veterans and newcomers held up against the Lancers' bigger and more experienced front.

"I wouldn't say I was encouraged by our effort because we expected to win the game," Bear coach A.J. Massengale said. "We had a lot of first-time starters play well, but what I'm going to remember is our three turnovers and special teams breakdowns.

"We made defensive adjustments at halftime, putting new personnel in there, and looking back we probably could have implemented those changes earlier," Massengale said. "This is a tough one to swallow."

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