Winnacunnet football comes back in second half to beat Windham

WINDHAM - Ron Auffant was waiting for just the right moment.

For more than a quarter Saturday, the Winnacunnet High School football coach watched as the Windham defenders continued to creep closer to the line of scrimmage, potentially leaving the Warriors' tight ends open for a big play.

And at the start of the fourth quarter, Winnacunnet was ready for one.

On the first play of the final frame, Joe LaRosa executed a play-action fake to perfection, getting the Jaguars to bite, and Devin Miller ran free down the seam. The Warriors quarterback hit Miller in stride, and the senior outran two Windham defenders to the end zone.

The 34-yard touchdown reception by Miller gave Winnacunnet the deciding points in a 17-10 win over Windham in the first meeting between the programs. 

"They were creeping up, they weren’t honoring it," Auffant said. "I saw that for about a quarter and we finally called it, and it worked. We knew it was there, just the way they were playing it. With us, if you do that, our tight ends are just going to run down the seam."

The score completed a second-half comeback for the Warriors, who trailed 10-2 early in the third quarter, but took the lead for good with 11:55 remaining and then held Windham's offense in check.

"They prepared for that," Windham coach Bill Raycraft said of the touchdown. "They caught us on a fourth-down play where we decided to send pressure off that side. They called the right play against that. Offensively, we had three or four opportunities at the end, and we had a two-point play drawn up, and then we get out with a win."

Winnacunnet's defense allowed just 170 yards, including 24 on the ground, as Windham rushed for less than a yard per carry.

"We never let them get their run game established," Auffant said. "A team like that, if they get their run game established, it’s like Exeter. You’ve got to stop the run and don’t give up the big play."

The Warriors' defense only gave up one, when a pass from Windham's Cody Potter hit off Ryan Marotta, then bounced off the helmet of a Winnacunnet player before going right into the hands of Rocky Heres, who raced to the end zone to complete a 41-yard touchdown reception.

That made it 10-2 Windham, but Winnacunnet responded with a 13-play, 70-yard drive that took up 6:24 and ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Jordan Fuller.

Fuller led Winnacunnet with 102 yards rushing on 16 carries, while Louis Granger and Brendan Kacmarcik each had 61 yards on the ground. LaRosa finished with 79 yards passing to go with the touchdown and an interception, but left the game in the fourth quarter after a hard hit.

The senior quarterback was on the ground for a while and was eventually taken from the field by an ambulance as a precaution, but Auffant believed the injury to be a concussion.

"My guess is he had a concussion, possibly a neck strain, hopefully nothing worse," Auffant said. "We’ll know more in a couple of days."

The Warriors got on the board first when a punt by LaRosa pinned Windham at its own 1-yard line. Winnacunnet got pressure on Potter on the next play, forcing him to throw the ball away and he was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead.

Windham went ahead with 8:02 left in the second quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Christopher Burke and the Jaguars unsuccessfully attempted an onside kick, giving Winnacunnet the ball at midfield.

A couple of big runs by Fuller got the Warriors down to the Windham 10-yard line, but on third-and-goal from the 9, LaRosa was picked off by Bobby Dicicco to end the drive.

"I was disappointed with our offense in the first half," Auffant said. "We should have had two scores at least. Disappointed with that, but we’ll clean it up."

Fuller's touchdown tied it at 10 with 3:50 left in the third quarter, and on Windham's next possession, Potter fumbled a snap that was recovered by Miller, giving the Warriors the ball at their own 30. 

Seven plays later, LaRosa found Miller wide open and Winnacunnet's defense had all the points it needed.