The Waterford Lancer football team prepared to take the field while rowdy fans filled the bleachers and the rain poured. Lancers started with the ball as they faced the number three seed Killingly at home. This game meant win and go to state finals or lose and our most successful season in program history is over.  

Waterford’s offense makes its presence known quickly as they dominated the first drive of the game with a passing touchdown thrown by quarterback Ryan Bakken to receiver Trey Brennan, giving them the lead 7-0. Lancers then recovered a fumbled kick return, getting it back immediately. Killingly scored late in the second quarter making it 7-7 at the half.

This is where things began to go wrong for the team dressed in royal blue. Killingly scored at the beginning of the third quarter, which lowered the momentum of Waterford. Since then, the team was unsuccessful with the ball. A large part of that was contributed to the heavy rains that decided to hit Waterford that night, and the rest of the issues seemed to come mentally. The energy of the team seemed to be low and Killingly used that to their advantage and controlled the second half of the game.At the end of the third quarter, the score for the game was 29-7.

The final score of the game was 35-7, a heartbreaking loss for a team with a phenomenal history-making season. 

Yet, even with the loss, the town of Waterford is proud of the team for a season like no other, and cannot wait to see what the program does next in the years to come.