Big second half lifts Gilbert/NW

WINSTED — Led by Marco Folino’s 252 rushing yards, Gilbert/Northwestern blasted out of a halftime tie with Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton/Lyman Memorial to a 3514 win Saturday afternoon at Gilbert’s Van Why Field.

Three missing Patriots helped make the first half much too interesting for G/N coach Scott Salius’s satisfaction.

“When we found out their best running back (junior Kaleb Carlson) wasn’t playing, we came out without focus,” Salius said.

That left the Yellowjackets susceptible to a fake punt just two minutes into the game on Coventry’s opening drive. Patriot quarterback Devin Grover dropped back for a handoff, catching G/N flatfooted for a 73yard pass/run to running back Jordan Smith, followed by Smith’s twopoint running conversion.

G/N responded with a sixplay scoring drive from the Patriot 48 yardline, highlighted by passes from Anthony Carfiro to Ian Thompson and a final 12yard throw to Chase Sanden, but the extra point attempt missed and Salius saw his line missing too many blocks.

Meanwhile, the Patriots (25), already thin on their bench, were thrilled with an 86 lead after the first quarter.

“We had way too many freshmen on the field,” said Coach Tom Hammon, in his first year in charge of the Coventry coop after 16 as head coach at RHAM and one as the Patriot assistant.

Blame the Patriot youth and inexperience on another G/N scoring drive from the end of the first period into the early second quarter on eight plays featuring a 26yard run by Hunter Sanden and a final oneyard plunge by Nate Stery. Folino ran in for a twopoint conversion.

But a 148 Yellowjacket lead was still subject to an unfocused defense.

Coventry quarterback Grover picked on it with 17 and 32yard passes to Glenn and Konnor Boucher for another Patriot touchdown and a 1414 halftime tie with seven seconds left.

Salius and his staff laid heavy hands on their halftime tuning knobs.

Folino, with 56 yards in the first half. He followed crisp blocks for 128 yards in his first two carries in the second — a 67yard touchdown on G/N’s first play from scrimmage and a 61yard jaunt setting up Hunter Sanden’s sevenyard scoring run after Coventry went four and out.

“(Folino) runs hard on every play. One person can’t bring him down,” said Dylan Keith, the 61, 250pound heart of G/N’s offensive and defensive lines.

“I just know (Keith) always has my back,” said Folino.

A 2814 lead, with extrapoint kicks by Josh Hamel, had the Yellowjackets, now 33, running downhill, but the focus was there to stay on offense and defense.

Cornerback Ryan VanDyke intercepted a Grover pass at the G/N 48. Nine plays later, Folino put the scoring touch on a 13yard run for the 3414 final with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

From there, the Yellowjackets put the game on ice.

“The second half was the way we should be playing,” said Coach Salius.

Peter Wallace / For Hearst Connecticut Media Gilbert/Northwestern players cheer their seniors in a traditional postgame slide in the grass following the Yellowjackets’ win over Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton/Lyman Memorial Saturday afternoon at Van Why Field.