BEACON FALLS — After falling behind four scores last Friday night against St. Paul, the Hawks unanswered back with three of their own but fell short of completing the comeback.
St. Paul held on for the 28-19 win.
“Going down 28 is tough for anybody. But for us not being a sling-it-around, quick-scoring offense makes it very hard. There were some mistakes on our (coaches) end, not the kids, that didn’t allow us to capitalize,” Woodland head coach Chris Moffo said.
Woodland (0-7) went into halftime trailing the Falcons (5-2) 28-7. Woodland, which pitched a shutout in the second half, scored on the first possession of the half to cut the lead to 28-13.
“It was nice to see our defense clamp down in the second half, the kids really stepped their game up. We talk about capitalizing on mistakes and they did that when St. Paul fumbled,” Moffo said.
The Hawks scored again with about 9 minutes left. The two-point conversion failed, and the Hawks didn’t reach the end zone again.
The game was mostly a ground affair with the teams combining for just two pass attempts in the first half. Woodland running back and wide receiver Tom Smith completed his first pass of the season for 20 yards — the Hawks only completed pass of the game. Smith also ran for 106 yards and a score in his first game back from a knee injury.
“Tom Smith is a big help for our offense. Anytime he is on the field and healthy for us he is exciting to watch,” Moffo said.
Senior captain Isaac Negron had 80 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Negron has now gone over 1,000 yards in his career rushing for the Hawks.
“Isaac is a special guy for us. He plays with great fire,” Moffo said.
The Hawks were led on defense by senior captain Scott Lawrence, who had 13 tackles and one for a loss. Lawrence leads the team in both categories this year and has a staggering 10 tackles per game average as he continues to show up week in and week out.
When asked about Lawrence Moffo simply said, “He is a beast.”
The Falcons ran in all four of their scores. Chris Dionne had nine carries for 83 yards and three scores. The other touchdown came from Damien Rabis, who had 105 yards on 13 carries.
The Hawks will take the trip up Route 8 on Friday to face Torrington (3-3) at 7 p.m.
