Confounding (but explosive) Fitch gets past East Lyme

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Groton — There are times when the minds of Mike Ellis’ football players at Fitch High mimic how grass seed is spread: all over the place.

Like Friday night, for example. Block an East Lyme punt and a field goal attempt? Check. But then nine penalties, three of which negated touchdowns? Check. Score touchdowns on fourth down? Check. But then allow a 65-yard touchdown run? Check.

“We kill ourselves sometimes,” Ellis said, on a night the gaffes were not as devastating as the explosive plays were helpful. The Falcons moved to 3-1 with a 35-21 win at Dorr Field in Division I of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

The explosive plays: Anthony Spader pounced on a play ruled a lateral/backwards pass and went 92 yards for a touchdown. Shad Stewart blocked a punt and a field goal. Camrin Lee-Frey caught a 24-yard touchdown pass on fourth down early in the fourth quarter to re-deliver Fitch’s two-score lead. And then Spader iced it with 2:59 left on a third-and-long with a 29-yard touchdown run.

“We do have a little immaturity and mental errors,” Spader said. “If we can clean that up … because we make a lot of great plays, too.”

Spader’s 92-yard run came in the first half when a pass that looked incomplete was ruled a lateral/backwards pass.

“It happens a lot in practice,” Spader said, “and we’re taught to play through the whistle. I didn’t hear one, so I just kept running.”

Spader also took note of Stewart’s two huge plays on special teams.

“Shad is a beast,” Spader said. “A special teams warrior. Coach Ellis likes to yell “do you care?’ to us a lot. Shad is the epitome of ‘do you care.’”

The Falcons led 21-0 at halftime before East Lyme awakened. Quarterback Jacob Garro hit Logan Benoit with a 13-yard touchdown pass, Kai Duprey got 65 of his 117 yards on a touchdown run and Logan Baird scored on a 2-yard run to cause plenty of concern on the opposite sideline.

“We told the kids at halftime that East Lyme wasn’t going away,” Ellis said.

Sean Bussey finished with 101 yards for Fitch and Porter Carter threw for three scores to Lee-Frey, Spader and Justin Jimenez.

“We have a lot to clean up,” Ellis said. “I’ll tell you what I told the kids. I quoted what I sent to (The Day) in the season preview. We’ll be successful if we focus on team goals and not individual ones.”

m.dimauro@theday.com