East Lyme can’t overcome mistakes and loses to Bacon

Blakley has a pair of late INTs to seal it for Bobcats

Colchester — It's hard to imagine two football teams playing an uglier, more mistake-prone and penalty-filled game than Bacon Academy and East Lyme did on Saturday afternoon.

And the officials had a rough day, too.

In the end, Bacon overcame its errors to post a 38-20 victory and clinch at least a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division championship.

"It definitely was a strange game," East Lyme coach Rudy Bagos said.

The Bobcats (6-1, 5-0) won despite committing four turnovers and having three touchdowns negated because of penalties. The Vikings (2-5, 1-4) also had their share of issues, finishing with three turnovers.

Coach Erik Larka blamed a lack of focus for Bacon's sloppy play.

"Another emotional week kind of drained the kids," Larka said. "Then rained washed out one of our practices this week. ... Then the next day, we had to go in the gym so we lost two days of actual practice. The kids' focus really didn't get reeled in until today. That's probably why we had so many penalties."

Bacon's talented running back Peter Kazibwe was the star of the marathon game, piling up 146 rushing yards on 23 carries and scoring four touchdowns — three on the ground and one in the air.

Larka relied more on the running game after quarterback Sean Kelly banged up his thumb in the first half. Kelly stayed in and finished with touchdown passes to Kazibwe and Jason Geary for 12 and 51 yards, respectively.

It was a competitive game for a while. Bacon led 12-6 at half and 19-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

But the Bobcats broke it open by ringing up two touchdowns 13 seconds apart. The first of two John Blakley interceptions set up Bacon's first scoring drive. The hard-running Kazibwe capped a 75-yard march by busting in from four yards out for a 25-13 lead.

On East Lyme's next offensive play, Blakley picked off Dylan Hatajik and strolled in the end zone for a 31-13 edge.

The Vikings had some bright moments on defense. Sam Highman had three of East Lyme's six sacks. Lucas Sousa-Ross, Tyler Valdez and Patrick Dowling each had an interception.

Dowling was the victim of an unfortunate mistake by an official. After making an interception, he was well on his way to a touchdown return. But an inadvertent whistle stopped the play, giving East Lyme the ball at the Bacon 32.

The Vikings scored anyway two plays later. Hatajik lofted a beautiful pass to a streaking Evan Tryon who hauled in the 42-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to six (19-13).

Hatajik and Tryon connected for three touchdown passes overall, also scoring from 11 and six yards.

"We played well for probably about three and a half quarters," Bagos said. "We're making improvements. ... The defense played terrific. Unfortunately, on offense, we really didn't get it going and help out our defense."

East Lyme also failed to fully capitalize on Bacon's mistakes.

For example, in the third quarter, the Vikings would have had the ball at the Bacon 16 after a snap sailed over punter Dan Narlock's head. But they committed a personal foul penalty and instead started their drive on the Bacon 48. They eventually committed a turnover.

"That's what separates a team that is 2-5 and a team that's going to the state tournament," Bagos said. "We weren't able to overcome the penalties and they were." g.keefe@theday.com Twitter:@GavinKeefe