Sports: Waterford, NFA play in quarterfinals of CIAC football playoffs tonight
Lancers host their first football playoff game since the 2003 season
Waterford — It would be a sensible narrative, what with this being Waterford High School's first postseason football game in eight years — and first home playoff game in 16 — that the Lancers are a bit antsy tonight with all eyes in the region on them.
Ah, but then few other groups of kids in all of Connecticut have experienced the pressures of more meaningful games than the Lancers, who have played in league and state championship games in basketball, baseball and lacrosse almost routinely in recent years.
"I've been in some big games. A lot of us have. I think we'll stay calm and collected," senior quarterback Ryan Bakken said, alluding to a career dotted with championship game appearances in basketball and baseball. "I know everyone's going to be
amped up. But one thing I think we've all learned through our experiences is that you can't try to do too much."
Bakken and the No. 2 seeded Lancers play No. 7 Granby/Canton at 6:30 p.m. (live on the theday.com) in the CIAC Class M quarterfinals. Waterford, which has never won a state playoff game, hasn't been home for the playoffs since 2003.
"We have some guys who will be a bit jittery, but we also have guys like Trey (Brennan), Matt (Sanford) and Ryan who have been in these kinds of games before," Waterford coach John Strecker said. "They've been good all year about understanding what it means to play one play at a time."
Granby/Canton (8-2) is a first-year cooperative, led by senior quarterback Jackson Rome, who Strecker calls "the best runner we've seen all year."
Rome, who has rushed for a team-leading 1,152 yards and 18 touchdowns, has thrown the ball only 90 times (compared to 235 for Waterford). Rome is 55-90 for 786 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. Sam Attianese has run for 753 yards and 10 scores while defensively, the Bears have forced 27 turnovers in 10 games.
Bakken leads Waterford with 1,811 passing yards and 32 touchdowns to six different receivers: Sam Menders, Michael Vincent, Quincy Foren, Christian Hightower, Jackson Harshberger and Payton Sutman. Both Foren and Sutman are injured.
But Waterford's run game was never better than on Thanksgiving during its 35-34 win at East Lyme. Hightower, Harshberger and Luke Sokolski provided a needed complement to Bakken and the passing game.
"It's been good all season, but I thought it's really gotten better late," Strecker said. "We had a lot of injuries in the Woodstock game (when the Lancers clinched the division title) and we needed to be able to run the ball."
Waterford's defense improved against the run as the East Lyme game progressed, thanks in part to Brennan, Sanford and Matt Olbrys among others.
"We set this as a goal in August," Bakken said. "We get to play a game on our home field. You can't ask for a better opportunity."