WINSLOW — Tim Roche began to see good things from his Wells football team in the final few minutes of a win against Fryeburg.
On Saturday, he saw them for a full four quarters.
Brayden Fazzina and Conner Whitten each ran for two touchdowns, Brady Fox found Colby Bolduc for two more through the air, and Wells shut down Winslow’s strong running game and rolled to a 49-13 victory over the Black Raiders.
“It’s awesome. That’s what makes the game of football fun,” Fazzina said. “We’re firing on all cylinders, there’s nothing like it.”
The team that lost 41-0 to Leavitt two weeks ago didn’t seem to be the one that showed up at Poulin Field on Saturday, and Roche said last week’s 11-8 win over Fryeburg began to turn the tide.
“I think we figured something out last week, with six minutes left in Fryeburg. ‘OK, we’re better than we think we are,'” said Roche, whose team improved to 3-2. “And then we came out today, and I thought we came out just the way we finished last week. We really put it to them.”
Neither Wes Littlefield nor Pete Bolduc, co-coaches for Winslow (2-2), argued that.
“I think we didn’t show up to play,” said Littlefield, whose team lost four fumbles. “I think our kids might have taken them a little bit lightly. It showed up a little bit in our practices this week. … You’ve got to show up every week, especially against a Wells team that loves to come here and compete.”
The first quarter was played evenly, with both teams moving the ball, but Wells made its move in the second. On the first play of the period, Fazzina ran in from 23 yards out for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. On the first play of Wells’ next possession, Fox ran play action, got the Winslow defense to bite on the fake, then hit a wide-open Bolduc for a 49-yard touchdown pass.
Winslow quarterback Jared Newgard (12) and teammate Evan Bourget (44) recover a fumbled snap against Wells during a football game Saturday in Winslow. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Wells needed to go only 32 yards on its next drive for a touchdown, scored when Fazzina (seven carries, 29 yards) ran in from a yard out, and it was Whitten, a sophomore, scoring on a 5-yard run just before halftime two drives later for a 28-0 lead.
Winslow still had a chance in the third quarter after a 71-yard scoring drive, capped off by Jared Newgard’s 10-yard screen pass to Evan Bourget, but Fox again found a wide-open Bolduc (two catches, 122 yards) on a rollout pass for a 73-yard touchdown and a 35-6 lead with 32 seconds left in the quarter.
“We practice it every day at practice, we have it down,” Fox said. “It was just good blocking up front, and being able to look downfield and see my guys. He made a play with it. I didn’t expect him to run for a touchdown, that’s a great run by him.”
Wells’ last two scores came on a 3-yard run by Whitten (12 carries, 64 yards) and a 4-yard run by Eli Potter. Winslow got a 70-yard kick return for a score from Travis Reed.
“I think they did a very nice job of using their talent,” Bolduc said. “(With) the Bolduc kid, moving him around, being a receiver or a runner, he’s an ‘X’ factor. The kid’s a real good player, the quarterback did a nice job, Coach Roche had them prepared offensively and defensively for everything he wanted them to do.”
Wells’ offense broke open the game, but the Warriors’ defense was superb against the Winslow backfield. Wells’ front of ends Fazzina, Michael Lewinski and Nathan Coleman and tackles Gavyn Petrie and Isaiah Martinez won the battle up front over and over again, and prevented Matt Quirion (20 carries, 80 yards), Bourget (five carries, 17 yards) and Jack Dorval (six carries, 24 yards) from having anywhere consistently to go.
Wells’ Brayden Fazzina (23) escapes the diving tackle of Winslow’s Nolan Kelly (28) for the touchdown in the first half during a football game Saturday in Winslow. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
“Our defensive line and linebackers, it was perfect. They were penetrating just like we talked about, they were disciplined,” said Roche, who credited defensive coordinator Carmen Perri with getting the Warriors prepared. “The double wing, we haven’t seen in a long time. … It was nerve-wracking all week, do the kids understand it? And they do. They figured out how to defend it.”
Littlefield said the loss could serve some value for the Black Raiders going forward.
“Absolutely. The whole thing’s going to be a great learning lesson, like when we went to York and we did the same thing,” he said. “No excuses. We just didn’t play very well.”
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