It was Windham’s Homecoming varsity football game, and the team fought for 48 minutes to beat Bangor posting a 34-18 victory over the Rams on Saturday, Oct. 5.
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| Windham sophomore Parker Sperry heads toward the end zone during a prep football game against Bangor at Windham High School on Saturday, Oct. 5. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
“I knew they were going to pass, and we all sunk into coverage, I didn’t really think – he threw it to me, I caught it and started ... running,” said Tegan Perkins. “Great energy we came in all fired up this morning, nobody thought we were going to lose, we all stuck through.”
WHS defense shut down the Rams, with multiple tackles. It was second and 10 and Windham stopped Bangor on the line of scrimmage. A fumble on Bangor’s snap and Windham gained possession. After one quarter the game was scoreless.
About 10 seconds into the second quarter, Bangor crossed into the end zone. The extra point was blocked.
It was first and 10 Windham on their 28-yard line. The Eagles made it to the 42-yard line for a first down. A few moments later senior Ayden Cofone scored. The extra point was good, and Windham led, 7-6.
Bangor got a first down on Windham’s 33-yard line but was stopped on fourth down.
On a second and 12, Windham sophomore Parker Sperry broke away and headed up the field for a 78-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good and at the half, Windham led, 13-6.
“We knew we had to ... do something different and we all worked together as a team,” said Sperry. “We came to battle; we all communicated which is really important in football, you need all 11 guys on the same page – that is what I think helped us win. We need to get on a role and start coming to these games with a (winning) mentality because that’s what’s going to get us to the postseason.”
In the second half, it’s first and 10 Windham on their 30-yard line. Junior AJ Moody had a 14-yard run for a first down. A completed pass from Windham junior and quarterback Karl Longstreth to sophomore Mason Arbour who connected in the end zone. The extra point was good.
Windham remained hungry and wasn’t about to let up. Sperry had a 70-yard interception return, a pick 6; the extra point was good.
Windham freshman Patrick Davenport blocked a Bangor pass near the end zone.
On first down Windham was on the 20-yard line and Longstreth had an 80-yard run and scored. The extra point was good; Windham now led 34-6.
Bangor scored in the fourth quarter; but its two-point conversion was no good.
“We brought more energy as a team,” said Cofone. “This week at practice everybody really busted their tails off, a lot more energy in practice. A lot more people giving heart, even in the backup set ... giving it all they have.”
There was 2:30 left in the game, and Windham was not about to let up. Windham junior Reese Hutchinson blocked a Bangor pass.
Bangor scored but the two-point conversion was no good. After a personal foul against Windham, Bangor regained possession. With 40 seconds remaining, the Rams made one last push. When Bangor threw a pass, sophomore Tegan Perkins was there, caught and ran toward the end zone as the clock ran out.
“We’ve kind of changed some things around a little bit, trying to move guys in positions where they’re most comfortable,” said Windham varsity football coach Matt Perkins. “We’re only playing four seniors; and the seniors we are playing, three of them have never started in varsity football. We’re so young, we’re just figuring it out as we go. We haven’t had a bad practice ... it’s huge that they got the payoff today. Our big focus this week was defensively third downs, getting better at it – offensively execute and get first downs. In vital parts of the game, we stopped them on third down, we stopped them on fourth down. We swarmed to the ball better, we’re still working on tackling; we haven’t gotten to the place I want to be tackling; we had them in the back field a couple times and didn’t execute the tackle. We got to do a better job in space, just continue coverage and handling guys in space.” <
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