From the euphoria of victory to the gut-wrenching agony of defeat. That’s the journey the Woodland football team took in just 25.4 seconds of game time against Ansonia in their Class S state semifinal game on Sunday afternoon at Nolan Field.
Final score: Ansonia 30, Woodland 23. And it happened in unbelievable fashion as Charger quarterback Matteo Sorrentino hit Romeo Charles with a 34-yard touchdown pass in the back left corner of the end zone with .5 second to play.
The memories will last much longer than 25.4 seconds, as will the pain. Woodland finished a terrific season at 8-4.
First, the euphoria. The Hawks were down, 22-8, but rallied to take the lead. They went 80 yards and got a 13-yard touchdown pass on a screen from Jack Brunetti to Norman Cook. Head coach Joe Lato rolled the dice with a Philly special two-point conversion, and it worked. Will Brooks took the snap and gave the ball to Christian Morales, who was moving toward his right. Brunetti snuck into the end zone, and Morales got him with the pass for a 23-22 lead. There were just 25.9 seconds left, and you couldn’t blame Hawks fans for having thoughts of the team’s first state final since 2013.
The problem, as it turned out, was the 25.9 still on the Nolan Field scoreboard.A short kickoff and a pass interference penalty on an initial deep throw from Sorrentino to Charles set up the final play. Pure joy for Ansonia, and absolute agony for Woodland. This one is going to sting for a while.
