Housy football team stumbles against Coventry

COVENTRY —The visiting Housatonic/Wamago Mountaineers knew they had to bring their "A" game to have a chance against the Coventry/Windham Tech Patriots, but unfortunately they brought their "F"game — "F" as in fumbles — of which they had three in the first quarter, allowing the home team to jump to a 27-8 lead.

Although Housy fought hard the rest of the way, they could not overcome the mistakes made earlier, resulting in a 42-24 loss to the Patriots.

"You can’t turn the football over three times against a team like that," Coach Deron Bayer remarked after the game. "But, to be down like that and still battle back shows that there’s no quit in our boys."

In fact, after giving up two quick scores due to the turnovers, Housy bounced back with a 28-yard touchdown run up the middle by Will Kennedy, who also converted on the two-point try to bring the score to 14-8.

But another fumble, and four more Coventry touchdowns before the end of the second quarter, with only one Housy touchdown to match them, stopped any chance of Mountaineer comeback, and at halftime it was 42-16 in favor of the Patriots.

After the break, a more composed Housy squad took the field, and managed to keep Coventry off the scoreboard in the second half, even though the Patriots kept all their starters in until the very end of the game.

The Mountaineers were able to put up the only points in the half on a drive started when linebacker Ben Wilbur pounced on a loose ball stripped from the Patriot ballcarrier, taking possesion on their own 30-yard line. Some fine off-tackle running by Jameson Martin (17 carries for 96 yards), and a 25-yard pass completion from Tom Kennedy to wide receiver Sean Bushey got the "Mountain Men" down field quickly, allowing Will Kennedy to scamper into the endzone from the 5-yard line, for his third touchdown of the day.

The loss drops Housy to a 3-2 record overall, 1-2 in the Uncas Division. Next up is a home game on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. versus Ellington, a team with a record of 5-1, good for second-best in the Pequot League.

In addition to the three touchdowns, Will Kennedy (26 carries for 138 yards) converted all three of the two-point tries, scoring all 24 points in the game.

Ben Wilbur had a nice pass reception out of the backfield, and a fumble recovery to set up the last touchdown.

Gian Lodevole injured his shoulder and left the game, so Jameson Martin took over kicking duties and did a fine job.