CROMWELL — With three touchdowns scored on the first four offensive plays, it looked like the first team to 60 points might win the Pequot Conference clash between visiting North Branford and Cromwell/Portland.
After some big passing plays kept the scoreboard operator busy early Friday night, the host Panthers relied on some old-fashioned power running in the latter stages to come away with a 39-31 victory.
After North Branford tied the game with less than 5½ minutes to play on AJ Sigel's 14-run, Cromwell/Portland quarterback Mike Sitaro and all-everything offensive weapon Tyler Cipolla combined to carry the ball for all 10 plays of the game-winning drive.
Sitaro extended the drive with his legs on a third-and-12 play, and three plays later, his 7-yard scoring scamper and two-point conversion run with 12.5 seconds lifted Cromwell/Portland to victory.
"That last drive came down to heart and grit,” Sitaro said. "It came down to us, the family and the community that we built just going down there, ending this game and having a good night.
"On third down, we just got stopped and kicked a field goal. I told them, 'let's go out there', we had to score. Third downs, it comes down to heart. I just take the ball and I have to go."
Sitaro ran 18 times for 159 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also connected with Cipolla on touchdown passes of 18 and 57 yards. Cipolla ran for 166 yards, had 75 receiving yards, a sack and six tackles.
"That two-headed monster is tough,” North Branford coach Anthony Salvati said of Sitaro and Cipolla. "I would be hard-pressed to see a team that has a two-headed monster like that. Pick your poison — if you stop one, the other one makes the play."
North Branford (1-1) scored on the first play from scrimmage when an attempted pass was ruled to be a live ball. Dylan Yarnall scooped up the lateral and scored just 13 seconds into the game.
"We fell behind early, but we found a way to fight back and stay with it so I am really proud of that,” Cromwell/Portland coach Sal Morello said. "That (North Branford) offense is tough. You don't see that every week."
Cipolla had a 64-yard run on the third offensive play for the Panthers only to have North Branford answer when Jack Sigel turned one missed tackle on a screen pass into a 55-yard touchdown.
The scoring slowed down just a little bit. Still, the teams combined for 255 yards of offense in the first quarter alone. There were 21 offensive plays of at least 10 yards in the game.
"If you are a fan, it is a fun one to watch,” Salvati said. "If you are a coach, it is a fun one to coach unless you come up on the wrong end of the stick. Hat's off to Cromwell, they are well coached, they made more plays than us."
North Branford used a pair of quarterbacks. AJ Sigel ran for 94 yards while Matteo Anderson threw for 165 yards.
Greg Ferraro finished with 82 yards on six catches for the Thunderbirds.
Jayden Augustin led Cromwell/Portland (2-0) with seven tackles. Ferraro, Craig Miller and Landen Burns each had seven tackles for North Branford.
Cromwell / Portland 39, North Branford 31
NORTH BRANFORD 14 3 0 14—31CROMWELL/PORTLAND 14 7 7 11—39
NB—Dylan Yarnall 25 fumble recovery (Owen Brustman kick)C—Tyler Cipolla 64 run (Luke Morello kick)NB—Jack Sigel 55 pass from Matteo Anderson (Brustman kick)C—Cipolla 18 pass from Mike Sitaro (Morello kick)NB—Brustman 35 FGC—Cipolla 57 pass from Sitaro (Morello kick)C—Sitaro 9 run (Morello kick)NB—Gianni Salvati 29 pass from Anderson (Brustman kick)C—Morello 25 FGNB—AJ Sigel 14 run (Brustman kick)C—Sitaro 7 run (Sitaro run)Team records: NB 1-1, C/P 2-0