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Groton — Porter Carter has been starting for the Fitch High School football team since his freshman year, which means that Carter brings a great deal of poise to the quarterback spot for the Falcons.

For Friday night’s opening day 44-15 victory over Abbott Tech/Immaculate (ATI), he translated that poise into five first-half touchdowns, two rushing and three passing, not throwing an incompletion until the third quarter. By the fourth quarter, he was watching from the sideline as backup quarterback Ben Gregor took a final knee to run out the clock on the victory.

“It’s my fourth year starting on varsity; it definitely clicks,” Carter said. “… Week one, you should be excited when we put 44 points on the scoreboard. You should be excited.”

Carter, who played quarterback last year, said he planned a switch to the slot this year, with Michael El Khoury starting at quarterback, but he said El Khoury was injured during a scrimmage.

“So I stepped up,” Carter said. “I took the QB role. We’ve got a lot of guys that play for the brothers on this team and we just made stuff work.”

Carter finished with five rushes for 74 yards and two touchdowns and was 5-for-6 passing for 153 yards and three TDs.

Fitch scored on its first series of the season, needing just two plays, after an interception by Shad Stewart gave the Falcons the ball at the ATI 24-yard-line. Sean Bussey ran the ball for 5 yards before Carter scored from 19 yards out on a play that first went to the left and ended up with Carter cutting it back and getting around the right corner.

The Falcons had two missteps in a row, during which time ATI tied the game at 7-7. ATI recovered a fumble in its end zone to deadlock the game at 7, then recovered an onside kick to take back possession.

But Fitch scored on every drive of the half thereafter, backed by a staunch defense which limited ATI returning quarterback Hunter Von Minden, and Carter’s presence.

Bussey’s interception led to a 16-yard rushing touchdown by Carter, who got a block from none other than Bussey, as the Falcons took a 13-7 lead.

Carter then took to the air, hitting Camrin Lee-Frey for a 26-yard touchdown, Anthony Spader for 46 yards and Mark McBride for 40 yards, all in stride, bumping the score to 32-7 with 1:20 remaining in the half. ATI’s last drive before the half was intercepted by Zyaire Shedrick, who drew a personal foul, as well, giving Fitch one more untimed down before the half.

Fitch then received to start the second half and scored again on a 10-yard run by Bussey, set up by a 35-yard rush from Spader. McBride closed the scoring on a 17-yard run with 1:56 left in the third quarter to make it 44-7, prompting a running clock for most of the fourth quarter with at least a 35-point lead.

Shedrick celebrated following the win with a few backflips on the Dorr Field turf.

Said Carter, who also plays cornerback: “I think our defense was the biggest key to this game. They couldn’t get anything on us.”

Source: https://theday.com/news/788203/carter-5-tds-leads-fitch-football-to-opening-day-win-over-ati/

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