Ludlowe stuns Norwalk again
NORWALK — The Norwalk football team had seen this movie before.
And the Bears didn’t care for the ending the second time around either.
It was deja vu and heartache Friday night as Ludlowe scored a touchdown and twopoint conversion with 18.2 seconds left to defeat Norwalk 4342 at Sam Testa Memorial Field.
It was the second straight season that Ludlowe topped Norwalk 4342. Last season, the Falcons stormed back from 21 points down.
On Friday night, the scenario differed but the pain was just as bad.
After Norwalk senior quarterback Kyle Gordon scored his third touchdown of the evening on a 40yard run with 10:03 to play and Vasilios Kiriazidis added a 33yard extra point, the Bears led 3527.
However, Ludlowe responded with a 65yard march capped by James Bourque’s 11yard run. Bourque’s twopoint conversion run made it 3535 with 6:20 to go.
But Gordon had more heroics in his arsenal. He scored his fourth touchdown from 4 yards out with 4:00 left for a 4235 lead.
Ludlowe, however, never stopped believing.
The Falcons converted a fourthand9 at the Norwalk 24 as Bourque ran for 19 yards with 44.5 seconds left. That led to Carlos Moreno’s 5yard TD run with 18.2 seconds left to close to 4241.
Ludlowe had missed two twopoint tries early in the contest, but the Falcons were going for the win.
“We have 400 plays in our playbook,” Ludlowe coach Mitchell Ross said.
That left Bourque (17 carries, 141 yards, most out of the wildcat) running toward the right side on another runpass option with the huge Norwalk defensive line chasing him.
“I saw an opening and went. The offensive line was terrific for me tonight. What an awesome ending,” Bourque said. “Adrenline was kicking in. I’m sure I’ll feel sore Saturday, but winning like this is so fun.”
And so, Ludlowe is 22 after going 73 last year.
“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves,” Ross said. “This is our fifth onepoint victory in two seasons. We win nailbiters. I believe in the odds. If we have fourth down and 7 yards or less, we’re going for it. No matter where we are on the field. I have a great punter. I have a great kicker. But I feel that fourth downs and twopoint conversions are 50 percent plays. All I ask of the kids is this: Just be athletes and do your job.”