DEEP RIVER — Someday there will be some things players on the Valley Regional/Lyme-Old Lyme football team will not remember about the 46th playing of the Principal's Cup on Tuesday evening, Nov. 25, 2025.
They'll probably forget their two lost fumbles.
They might forget their three fruitless trips into the red zone until Michael Spencer scored with 31 seconds left to pull the Warriors to within one point of Haddam-Killingworth.
They might even forget the snap that skipped through the hands of 6-foot-2, 315-pound lineman Eli Torres, who was lined up in the backfield for a Wildcat two-point conversion try and the win.
They might even forget who recovered the ensuing onside kick.
What the Warriors won't forget — not a one of them, not ever — is Sam Zelek trotting onto the field with 4.2 seconds left and lofting a kick into the rain that had been falling steadily through the night and watching it kiss off the crossbar 43 yards away and skip through the uprights as time expired for a 9-7 victory.
That will stay them for the rest of their days.
"That was just the most electrifying moment of my life," Zelek said. "I didn't really feel nervous at that moment. I had confidence ... I've hit that kick before, and that was all I needed to know."
Here's something to know about Sam Zelek: He's only a freshman.
And yet Phil Cohen, in his first year as head coach at Valley, had no reservations about trotting him out with the game on the line.
"Sam's a freshman, but the moment we saw the football jump off his foot, we knew we had something special in him," Cohen said.
Zelek's kick connected at the south end zone at Richard B. Blythe Field, sending the Warriors racing in delirium to the north end of the field.
For a second straight year, they had defeated rival H-K on the last play of the game.
Valley now leads the all-time series 35-11.
Zelek's game-winner came mere moments after all appeared lost for Valley. Down 7-0, the Warriors had punched in a touchdown, with Spencer rocking home from 4 yards out, with 31 seconds to play, but had been stymied on the two-point try when the snap eluded Torres.
Valley's Charlie Zapatka, however, recovered the ensuing onside kick at the H-K 49 and QB Max White, also only a freshman, got the Warriors into field goal position with a short completion, a 10-yard scramble and a 10-yard yard pass to Kevork Shegirian.
Shegirian got out of bounds, stopping the clock at 4.2 seconds and putting the ball on the left hash.
On came the field goal unit. Chase King delivered the snap. John Blaylock got the hold down. Sam Zelek swung his right foot. Torres went from 0 to 60.
"I really thought we lost as soon as that ball went through my hands," Torres said. "But, of course, we keep going and we never give up, and that's how it ended. We won."
Declan Moriarty had staked H-K to the 7-0 lead on a 25-yard pass reception from Jamien Evans in the second quarter. The H-K defense preserved it with two fumble recoveries and a succession of fourth-down stops in the red zone ... except on the game's final drive.
"It's absolutely heartbreaking," said H-K coach Tyler Wilcox. "These guys did everything they needed to do the last few years to win these Cups and, unfortunately, we've given away the last play of the game, the last series of the game, the last few seconds of the game.
"These guys, I love them, I'm proud of them," Wilcox added. "They compete all the time and they've been great leaders for the underclassmen. Just an unfortunate break for these guys."
Both teams came in at 6-3 having beaten, and lost, to the same exact Pequot League opponents. They stood on adjacent rungs on the Class S playoff ladder.
But this would be no repeat of last year, when Valley leapfrogged H-K for a Class S playoff berth. The rivals were out of the running for the postseason. This one was all about straight-up pride, tradition and bragging rights in the heart of the lower Connecticut River Valley.
And then it became even more.
Player of the Game
Sam Zelek. Valley Regional/Lyme-Old Lyme's freshman kicker beat the rain and H-K with a 43-yard field goal as time expired.
Quotable
"My team and all the coaching staff surrounding me, that's probably the happiest I ever was in my whole life." — Sam Zelek.
46TH PRINCIPAL'S CUP
Valley Regional/Lyme-Old Lyme 9, H-K 7
HK 0 7 0 0 — 7VRLOL 0 0 0 9 — 9
HK—Declan Moriarty 25 pass from Jamien Evans (Axel Kolcio kick)VRLOL—Michael Spencer 4 run (run failed)VRLOL—Sam Zelek 43 FGRecords: Haddam-Killingworth 6-4; Valley Regional/Lyme-Old Lyme 7-3.