Schools

Warriors' Defense Shuts Down Bristol Eastern

Brendan Gayle scored two touchdowns on defense, leading Windsor to a 48-7 victory.

It was Windsor's second trip to Bristol in as many days, and the second time around proved to be far more fruitful, as the Warriors improved to 3-0 on the season with a 48-7 victory over Bristol Eastern.

Play between the two CCC Division II West teams was resumed Saturday evening after being postponed Friday night in Bristol due to a thunderstorm that swept through the state. .

Under the lights at Muzzy Field on Saturday, the Warriors ran like a well-oiled machine, particularly defensively, holding Eastern (0-3, 0-2) to only 7 yards through the air, and 82 total offensive yards on the night.

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Windsor (3-0, 2-0) forced Eastern quarterback Lorenzo Brown into throwing three interceptions (Brown's first and only pass on Friday was a touchdown to wideout James Clark).

No Windsor defender had a better game than junior linebacker Brendan Gayle, who, according to Windsor Coach Rob Fleeting, didn't play well during Friday's interrupted gameplay.

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With Windsor only leading 21-7 late in the third quarter, Gayle recovered a blocked Eastern punt and returned it 8 yards for the score.

Just three minutes later, Gayle intercepted an errant pass from Brown, and took it back 28 yards for his second defensive touchdown of the evening.

"Brendan was a kid [Friday] who was horrible," said Fleeting after Saturday's win. "I got on him about not doing his job, and I said 'You've got to stop playing this game just to be safe.' I said 'Play and make big plays...' And today he responded. He made some huge plays."

Gayle's "huge plays" helped turn a relatively close ball game into a one-sided affair.

His improved play is also a snapshot of a defensive squad that, while smothering offenses this season, allowing an average of 84 total yards per game, looks to be on the verge of becoming a play-making unit -- a true compliment to Windsor's high-octane spread offense.

"I think they're just working hard to get better and better each week," said Fleeting of his defense. "I think we only have one returning starter on defense, which is [Aaron Berardino], everybody else, they weren't starters last year... the kids love being with each other, and they like each other, so we just keep coaching them up and never give them a break."

Coaching up the defense did the trick Saturday, as Fleeting said it was the defensive unit that was "the difference maker" between Windsor's play on Friday (when they trailed 7-6) and Saturday.

"Offensively we stalled a couple of times. We keep fumbling the ball, which isn't good. So I wasn't happy with that, but I'm happy with the way they responded and we were more aggressive on defense and I think that was the difference," he said.

"We can't let [Bristol Eastern] hold onto the ball without stopping the offense because you lose your opportunity [to score]. And then when you get the ball offensively, you can't fumble. We just did better defensively, and I think that was the difference today."

Offensively, the Warriors coughed up the ball three times, including once on the goal line, but the stars shined, as usual, and put up enough points to put the game out of reach.

Quarterback Quinn Fleeting threw for three touchdowns, and Berardino scored four times (three receiving and one rushing touchdown).

Eastern struggled from the first whistle Saturday. Resuming play on fourth-and-three, the Lancers turned the ball over on downs, and never seemed to regain momentum from Friday's lead.

"[Friday] our kids were fired up, they came out... they played well," said Bristol Eastern coach Michael Archangelo. "They had low pad level, they came out ready to play, and I think tonight they came out a little flat and it showed early on, and [Windsor] was able to get some momentum going. And then it just started to unravel."

Eastern running back Eli Rodriquez ran for 43 three yards through the first quarter-and-a-half, but only ran for more yards Saturday.

Rodriquez left the game with a leg injury just before halftime, and wouldn't return until midway through the third quarter.

He wasn't the only Lancer to leave the game because of an injury.

"We had guys going down left and right," said Archangelo. "We were already thin because were were out a couple of ke players to begin with. We couldn't afford for anybody to go down, and it just seemed like it unraveled like crazy."

Windsor will host Hartford Public (3-0) next Friday.

 

1 2 3 4 F Windsor Warriors 6 15 20 7 48 Bristol Eastern Lancers 7 0 0 0 7 Scoring Summary 1st 10:13 W: Aaron Berardino 17-yard pass from Quinn Fleeting (kick failed). 3:05 BE: James Clark 7-yard pass from Lorenzo Brown (Jeremy Meccariello kick). 2nd 6:12 W: Quinn Fleeting 20-yard run (Aaron Berardino run). 2:33 W: Aaron Berardino 37-yard pass from Quinn Fleeting (Chris Traore kick). 3rd 4:37 W: Brendan Gayle 8-yard blocked-punt return (kick failed). 1:33 W: Aaron Berardino 36-yard pass from Quinn Fleeting (Chris Traore kick). 1:12 W: Brendan Gayle 28-yard interception return (Chris Traore kick). 11:14 W: Aaron Berardino 5-yard run (Chris Traore kick).


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