By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
WINDSOR, Vt. — Ben Gilbert had quite a day for the Yellow Jackets with four touchdowns.
But it wasn’t a walk in the park for the Jacks as BFA refused to quit.
“They pushed us hard today but we fought back,” said BFA head coach Geoff Murray.
Windsor jumped out quick on the visitors with the help of some hard nose line play and a bizarre kickoff reception before things got very interesting.
Windsor was sky high for senior day and that momentum carried over onto the field as the Jacks put up 13 quick points with touchdown runs from Ben Gilbert (51 yards) and Travis McAllister (43 yards) to lead 13-0 midway into the first quarter.
“This was a football game, make no mistake,” said Windsor heads coach Greg Balch. “Forty-eight minutes of hard football.”
With the Bullets bruising running of Kenny Salls giving Windsor fits, Shawn Gibson scampered 11 yards untouched to get the visitors on the board.
Windsor responded with a score from Gilbert on a 24-yard misdirection follwed by the Windsor defense going to work on the next series with the Jacks leading 21-7. The solution to stopping Sauls was adding another linebacker and that adjustment crushed BFA. The Windsor line, lead by Richie Young, exploded on Cooper Harvey for a loss then Rodger Peterman buried Gibson for another loss. Next up it was Gilbert for a sack then Young added another sack to close out that series giving Windsor the ball on the 45.
“That series was huge for us,” said the Jacks defensive coordinator Jamie Richardson.
With all the momentum in Windsor’s pocket, it took just two plays for Gilbert to hit pay-dirt again for a 28-7 lead after Maison Fortin blasted for 46 yards down the sideline.
An unbelievable break for Windsor occurred on the ensuing kickoff as Jonathan Dexter usually lifts his kicks deep but this time he opted for a squib kick. Dexter’s boot hit a BFA player 10 yards away right in the face mask and it ricocheted right back to Dexter who caught it just before it hit the ground for a Windsor fumble recovery. After a few more yards on the ground, Fortin dropped back for first pass of the game and it found Austin Gauld on the fly for a 23-yard touchdown reception and a big 34-7 Windsor lead.
Then things began to get interesting.
A Harvey touchdown before the half gave BFA some momentum and when Harvey returned the second half kickoff 80 yards for a score, the Windsor faithful began to squirm in their seats with their lead down to 34-21. Things would get a lot worse for the Yellow Jackets after another BFA score cut the lead to only 34-28 and had Windsor starting a drive from their own 5 yard line.
“This team was asked all week if they were tough enough and this drive is when they proved themselves,” Balch said.
Fortin connected with Gauld for 15 yards then back to back carries from Gilbert had them moving.
“We just kept with it,” Gilbert said. “We listened to our coaches and trusted each other.”
Fortin connected with Gauld again then called his own play and scrambled with zig zag moves through the Bullet defense to reach the end zone and pushed the lead back to 40-28.
Richardson’s defense was in hot pursuit of BFA and looked to slam the door shut. Dalton Clifford swatted down a pass then Gauld blew up a fake punt to give Windsor the ball back and take all the wind out of BFA sails.
“We came to play today,” Clifford said. “Our effort and toughness was not going to be questioned after this game. Our level of tenacity was high for 48 minutes against a very good opponent.”
Gilbert would grab another score with a 2-yard blast while Fortin’s QB sneak closed the book on any thought of a BFA comeback.
Gilbert would rush for 170 yards and four touchdowns while Fortin would score twice, rush for 75 yards and pass for 61 more plus a touchdown for Windsor at they improved to 7-0 with their biggest test staring at them on Friday when they head to Woodstock.
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