Lawmen Top Easties

East Haven is rarely in a situation where they play teams with a worse record than their own. However, with a record of 1-6, Week 9 foe Jonathan Law was just that. Keep in mind, the Lawmen lost their opening game of the season to Sheehan, whom .

The Lawmen's sole win coming into Friday night's matchup was a 48-35 win over Branford in Week 7 . Last week Law, the 2007 Division II West champs, were part of an offensive fireworks display, losing 53-67 to Guilford.

Now, to game action.

With 3:48 left in the first quarter, a handoff to runningback Mark Elliot gave Law the first touchdown of the game. Law kicker Mike Spadaro scored the extra point, and Law led East Haven 7-0.

East Haven sought to answer back when quarterback Niko Fiorillo completed a long pass to receiver Mike Vessicchio and put the Easties into Law territory. But the Law defense stopped East Haven short of a touchdown and helped their team regain possession. With 8:51 left in the first half, Law runningback Josh Patterson carried the ball into East Haven territory and scored the second touchdown of the game. Kicker Mike Spadaro scored the extra point, and the Lawmen led 14-0.

With 6:49 left in the first half, the Easties fumbled, and linebacker Matt Szygiel recovered the ball for Law. Possession went back and forth until the last couple of seconds when East Haven quarterback Niko Fiorillo completed passes to Nick Proto, A. J. Lucatino, and Nick Cintron, pushing the YellowJackets into Law territory. Finally, with 12 seconds left in the half, a completion to receiver Mike Vessicchio gave East Haven their first touchdown. Vessicchio then scored a 2-point conversion, making the score Law, 14, East Haven, 8, at halftime.

At the start of the second half, Law recovered an onsides kick by quarterback Ryan Falaguerra. But East Haven's defense held Law to only 2 yards, and the YellowJackets quickly gained possession. East Haven quarterback Niko Fiorillo and runningback Taivarr Pierce took turns running the ball into Law territory. With 11:34 left in the third quarter, East Haven's Nick Cintron ran the ball in for a touchdown, making the score 14-14. Law's defense blocked the extra point, and the game remained tied at 14.

With 11:06 left in the game, runningback Mark Elliot scored the Lawmen's third touchdown. Kicker Mike Spadaro scored the extra point, and Law took the lead 21-14. Soon after, East Haven runningback Taivarr Pierce was injured while carrying the ball and had to sit out for a few minutes. With 4:04 left in the game, runningback Mark Elliot scored the Lawmen's fourth touchdown. Kicker Mike Spadaro gave Law the extra point, making the game 28-14 Law.

With 2:26 left in the game, Law quarterback Ryan Falaguerra completed a Hail Mary touchdown pass to his brother Connor Falaguerra, making the score 34-14 Law. Runningback Mark Elliot caught the pass for a 2-point conversion, and the final score was Law 36, East Haven 14.

"The mistakes killed us," said East Haven Head Coach Greg Volpe. "We had too many penalties, and that's not how you win a football game."

With the victory, Law improves to 2-6, East Haven drops to 2-7. 

Jonathan Law gets less than a week to recoupaerate, hosting Hartford's Prince Tech on Thursday, Nov. 18. East Haven has a bye week, then will finish out their season playing host to Branford at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 25.