A bear of a rebound performance for Stonington

September 26, 2024 4:56 PM • Last updated: September 26, 2024 4:56 PM

There were some unfortunate results for football programs in the Eastern Connecticut Conference during the first week of the season. Luckily, many did the resilience thing last weekend, perhaps none more so than Stonington.

The Bears, who lost their opener 68-16 to Killingly, scored nearly that many points against Woodstock on the road last Saturday.

Quarterback Jayden Carter threw three touchdowns in the first half and finished with 280 yards passing in the Bears’ 59-26 win.

Carter threw two touchdown passes to Patrick McGugan (18, 25 yards) and a 51-yarder to Chase Spurley, who has touchdown receptions in his first two games.

The Bears led 24-20 at halftime before an even more productive second half, highlighted by two forced turnovers.

“The second half was a different story,” Stonington coach AJ Massengale said. “We performed well in all three phases to put the game away. We had some big defensive plays in the second half with Cooper Light’s scoop and score (58 yards) and a big interception and return by McGugan to set up his rushing TD.

Maddox Massengale also scored twice for the Bears, who make their GameDay debut next week against Windham – the team that handed Stonington its first loss last season.

Guest appearance on GameDay

GameDay’s game of the week features a potential Class SS playoff game as Sheehan (2-0) visits Killingly (2-0). Both schools received votes in the latest GameTimeCT survey.

Former UConn football and basketball voice Joe D’Ambrosio will handle play-by-play duties (pinch-hitting for Casey O’Neill) with color commentator Jose “Pasta” Sanabria.

D’Ambrosio, a good friend of GameDay, did play-by-play for New London/Windsor basketball during the Day Holiday Classic last year.

Game time is 6:30 PM.

News and notes

The news wasn’t all bad for Fitch last week, despite the 37-21 defeat at Cheshire. The Falcons ran for 205 yards as a team, led by Devin Cook (73) yards and Porter Carter (69). Fitch makes another long trip this week, playing in Simsbury in a Scheduling Alliance game. …Interesting moment late in Waterford’s 20-7 win over Bacon Academy last week: With about nine minutes left and Waterford facing fourth down, quarterback Jax Higgins came running off the field and yelled “period!” It wasn’t a typical reaction from a quarterback on fourth down. “I also thought about ‘point,’” Waterford coach Zeth Nolda said. “It’s nice to know when you’re all on the same page.”

Ledyard’s AJ Adamick leads the ECC with 396 rushing yards through two games. … Windham joined Killingly and picked up some votes in the GameTimeCT poll after the 42-28 win over New London. Asael García Rodríguez had 228 yards rushing for the Whips, who are part of several of the ECC’s Class SS teams in contention (with Ledyard, Killingly and Waterford). … There are some interesting Alliance games in addition to Sheehan/Killingly this week, including No. 8 Masuk at No. 1 New Canaan and No. 2 Darien at No. 6 Windsor.

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