The Morgan football team faced off with Granby Memorial in a battle of undefeated Pequot Conference squads at the Ethel C. Peters Complex in Clinton on Oct. 30. The only disappointment was that someone had to lose this shootout and, when the scoreboard clock struck zero, Granby had outlasted Morgan 49-41 on the strength of a dominant rushing attack.
Morgan fell behind in the second quarter and trailed for the rest of the game. Down by eight late, the Huskies still had a chance to tie it up, but committed their fourth turnover of the night that essentially ended it.
Morgan dropped to 6-1, but is still in good shape to make the Class S State Playoffs. The Huskies are ranked seventh for a field in which the top eight teams qualify. Granby Memorial improved to 7-0 and is in the No. 2 spot.
“They didn’t do anything we weren’t prepared for,” Head Coach Peter Nye said. “They have a good scheme, a big line that blocks really well, and backs who hit the hole fast and run hard. We brought nine guys up to stop their running game, I think they only threw the ball once, but they just did a good job blocking, and we have to work on that aspect of our game.”
The Huskies struck first on the wild night by scoring a touchdown just seconds into the game. Gabe Eriksen took the opening kickoff and outran Granby for an 85-yard touchdown return. The extra point by Russell Green was blocked, but the Huskies led 6-0. Granby came right back, driving the ball down the field and scoring on quarterback Dominic Pagano’s 1-yard plunge. With the kick, the Bears went ahead 7-6. Eriksen struck again with a 59-yard touchdown run and Green’s kick made it 13-7 Morgan at the end of one. Eriksen finished the game with four total touchdowns and gained 110 yards on 15 rushes.
Things got crazy in the second quarter as the game turned into a showdown between Eriksen and Granby’s Conner Field. The two combined for six touchdowns in that quarter alone with two by Eriksen and four by Field. With Morgan looking to pad its lead, Eriksen made the only mistake in his exceptional performance when he lost the ball on the Granby 20-yard line. The Bears took the ball and methodically moved it behind their massive offensive line. They capitalized when Conner Field found his way through the defense for a 1-yard score to put Granby up 14-13 following the extra point. The Bears continued to pound the ball and Field then punched it in from two yards out to make it 21-13. Not to be deterred, Morgan came right back as Eriksen took a pass from quarterback Chucky Kostek (15-for-28, 153 yards, 3 TDs, 1 interception) for an 18-yard touchdown to get Morgan within one point at 21-20. Now it was Field’s turn again as he plowed his way into the end zone with a 9-yard score and the Huskies trailed 28-20. The Bears’ head coach made a mistake on the ensuing kickoff when Granby sent the ball deep to Eriksen for a second time. The star running back eluded the Bears’ tacklers and left them in the dust as he raced 75 yards for the score to cut the deficit to one at 28-27. If Eriksen was the fastest player on the night, Field was the toughest as he scored his fourth touchdown of the quarter with a 29-yard run to make it 35-27 Granby at the half.
In the third, Granby extended its lead with a Pagano 1-yard run and the Huskies were down 42-27. Morgan answered when Kostek found Dan Green on a 3-yard scoring pass to climb back to 42-34.
The Bears tried to put the game away in the fourth quarter when they went on a time-consuming drive that resulted in a Field’s 16-yard run for his fifth touchdown and Morgan trailed 49-34. The Huskies responded by showing the same grit they did in their season-opening, come-from-behind victory over North Branford. Down 14 with time running out, they worked the ball down the field and, when Kostek found Mateo Zumpano for a 39-yard touchdown pass, it was a one-score game after the Green kick at 49-41. The defense finally stopped Granby on a 4th-down-and-1 try to give the Huskies one last chance. With less than a minute to go, Morgan had the ball in its own territory when Kostek dropped back for a pass and was strip sacked. The Bears recovered the fumble and ran out the clock to end the Huskies’ attempt at a perfect season. Despite the defeat, Coach Nye was proud of how his boys battled to the end and nearly pulled off another courageous comeback.
“Gabe was awesome tonight, but we made too many mistakes,” Coach Nye said. “I liked their fight to come back at the end and we had a chance. I do have to say I’m amazed at the mentality of this group of kids. They have already accepted this loss and are using it as experience to get better. Victories don’t come easy and they learned that and we are moving on to Haddam-Killingworth. One thing I know is that we are a better team now than we were before this game began.”
From the Sidelines
In addition to their overall record of 6-1, the Huskies are 3-0 in the Pequot League South Division, leading Old Saybrook-Westbrook (2-1) for first place by a game.
Morgan closes its regular season with a game at division foe Haddam-Killingworth (4-3, 0-3) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6; then hosts Ellington (6-1) at 6:30 on Friday, Nov. 13; followed by the finale at Old Saybrook-Westbrook (5-2, 2-1) in Old Saybrook on Thanksgiving morning at 10:30 a.m, on Thursday, Nov. 26.
