WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Hartford High football team battled all night but was unable to make enough plays late, falling to Lyndon Institute 30-26 at home on Thursday night.
Trailing 30-26, the Hurricanes had a golden opportunity to take a late lead, starting their drive at the 50-yard line with 4:16 left after freshman Ryland Trombly returned the kickoff 34 yards.
Sophomore Eagen Cadreact got things started with a 4-yard rush, but a hold on the next play put the Canes behind the sticks.
Senior Rex Baning got the penalty yardage back on a reverse on the next play. Still, sophomore quarterback Quincy Moreno couldn’t connect with a receiver on third and fourth down, giving the Vikings the ball back with 2:13 remaining.
Lyndon picked up a couple of first downs and ran out the clock to seal the win, dropping the Canes to 1-6.
“It’s been a long year with a really young team,” said Matt Trombly, Hartford’s coach for 13 seasons. Before the season, he told the Valley News the program lost 16 seniors from a season ago and returned just one offensive player and three defensive players.
“We’ve looked at each week and just tried to find stuff we need to get better at each week and taken steps forward, not worrying about the past and just making positive steps forward,” he added.
Moreno threw two touchdown passes and ran for another. Ryland Trombly caught a touchdown, while Baning had a rushing and receiving touchdown.
“For a lot of these guys it’s their first time in situations like this, where you really got to battle to the end, and really sometimes those mistakes will add up, and they cost you in games like this that are tight,” Matt Trombly said.
“But overall, I’m proud of our kids; we’re working to get better. That’s kind of the goal regardless of what the scoreboard says, and by the end of it all, hopefully we’ve come far enough forward where we can make a run at it in the postseason,” he added.
The Vikings put the Canes in a hole early. After Hartford punted on the contest’s opening possession, Lyndon took a 7-0 lead on a 75-yard rush from junior quarterback Owen Fox.
The Canes went three-and-out on their ensuing drive. On the Vikings’ second play after the punt, senior Jackson Wells took a handoff and threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to junior Preston Jenkins, giving Lyndon a 14-0 lead with under four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
With its back against the wall, Hartford responded. The Canes executed a 10-play, 60-yard drive, capped by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Moreno to Baning, to make it 14-6 less than a minute into the second quarter after a missed extra point.
The Lyndon drive that followed was riddled with penalties, forcing the Vikings to punt and opening the door for another Hartford score.
On a drive that started at its own 25-yard line, Hartford hit paydirt. The Canes took advantage of another third-down shot from the Vikings’ 47-yard line after a 5-yard facemask penalty on the previous play.
Moreno rolled out and found Ryland Trombly, who caught the ball and cut back across the field, taking it just shy of the Vikings’ goal line, allowing his quarterback to scamper in on the next play to make the game 14-12 with 3:19 left in the half after a failed two-point conversion.
After all that first-half fight, Hartford found itself behind by two scores again in the second half. Lyndon hit a field goal before halftime and scored again on a 3-yard rush from Fox to open the second half, taking a 24-12 lead.
Once again, the Canes were on the comeback trail. Hartford also scored on its opening drive of the second half on a 2-yard rush from Baning and had a successful two-point conversion.
Cadreact forced a fumble on the next possession, giving the Canes the ball back at the Vikings’ 45-yard line.
On the next play from scrimmage, Moreno threw the ball to Baning, who made a contested catch with a defender draped on him for a 37-yard gain.
A hold wiped out Baning’s rushing touchdown on the next play, but Hartford got into the end zone a few plays later on a 12-yard reception by Ryland Trombly to take its first lead of the game, 26-24, with 11:13 remaining in the fourth quarter after a failed two-point conversion.
Ultimately, though, the Hartford defense could not hold the lead.
On its next possession, Lyndon drove 62 yards in over six minutes, converting two fourth downs, one after a Hartford encroachment, to retake the lead, 30-26, with 4:24 left, on a 17-yard run by Fox.
The Vikings stopped Hartford on its ensuing drive and drained the clock.
“Just trying to keep the kids positive at this point and keep faith because we’re not out of this thing by any stretch of the imagination,” Matt Trombly said.
Hartford hosts Fair Haven on Friday at 7 p.m.
