The victory celebration had been a long time coming for the Morgan football team. With a 35-32 win versus North Branford at Peters Complex on Sept. 29, the Huskies notched their first victory in nearly two years to improve to 1-3 in the 2018 season. Morgan’s last win had come against Lewis Mills in November of 2016. Now that the streak is broken, Head Coach Peter Nye’s squad is looking to build some momentum and keep the good times rolling.

Morgan’s 2017 season was marred by injuries that left the team shorthanded for many of its matchups. Seasons like that sometimes happen with smaller schools, but those struggles also made the payoff of the recent win that much sweeter for Morgan. Coach Nye appreciated the support of the Husky faithful during the rough patches. He said the crowd’s eruption following the win matched any that he’s ever seen.

“We’re a small school, and we embrace it. We’re proud of that. With a couple of injuries, a small school is going to struggle. We do the best with what we’ve got,” said Nye. “There’s a ton of pride at Morgan. The celebration between the kids and the student body was huge. I’ve been an assistant with some state championship teams, and the enthusiasm rivaled that.”

The game went back and forth with both teams trading touchdowns. Senior captain quarterback JP Nye threw four touchdowns and 182 yards on 12-for-22 passing for the Huskies. Nye frequently connected with senior Ryan Caldwell, who had six receptions for 123 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead TD with less than three minutes left in the game. Senior captain Mike Savage had six catches for 59 yards and a score for Morgan.

While it was a high-scoring game, Coach Nye said that his defense also made big plays when needed. Senior captain Matt Luchuk recorded two sacks and had 10 tackles, including two for a loss. Senior Hunter Kyhn and Savage each added nine tackles, while Michael Zingarella had eight tackles and Bryce Thomas had seven. Sophomore Luke Furches made a huge defensive play by returning an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter. Coach Nye said the interception gave Morgan some life, especially since the Thunderbirds had momentum on their side early in the contest.

“That was a big play. Luke made an instinctive jump on the ball and grabbed it,” Nye said. “It’s always great when they take it to the house. He really picked us up, because they were coming down field.”

North Branford put the first score on the board in the opening quarter for a 6-0 lead. The Huskies responded with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Nye to Caldwell, after which sophomore Kayo Berros kicked the point-after through the uprights for a 7-6 edge. After that, the T-Birds took the ensuing kickoff all the way back for a 95-yard touchdown to put the score at 12-7. The Huskies took the lead back when Furches snagged an interception and returned it 47 yards for a pick-6 and a 13-12 advantage.

In the second quarter, North Branford (1-3) made its way back into the red zone and scored on a short pass play that was followed by a 2-point conversion for a 20-13 lead. The Huskies tied the game at 20-20 to finish the first half on Nye’s TD pass to fellow senior captain Savage and a successful extra point by Berros.

North Branford controlled the clock in the third quarter and went ahead 26-20 on a 3-yard run TD for the only score of the period.

In the fourth quarter, Morgan used a 29-yard touchdown pass from Nye to Caldwell to tie the game, and Berros’s extra point gave the Huskies a 27-26 lead. The Thunderbirds responded by taking a 32-27 lead on a touchdown pass. However, with less than three minutes on the clock, Nye delivered a 3-yard pass to Caldwell for the go-ahead touchdown to put Morgan up 33-32. Savage ran it in for two more to make it 35-32.

North Branford still had two timeouts with time left on the clock, but Morgan’s defense stopped the Thunderbirds’ offense. Morgan’s offense secured the win when JP Nye got a first down on a quarterback sneak on 4th-down-and-1.

Coach Nye thought the Huskies showed their tenacity during the nerve-wracking final minutes of the victory.

“After we scored, they had two timeouts with a couple of minutes on the clock, and that’s an eternity,” said Nye. “It came down to a fourth-down play for them and, once we got the stop, our offense had to get a first down. We got it 4th-and-1 on a quarterback sneak, which we hadn’t run all season.”

Coach Nye has been pleasantly surprised with the Huskies’ passing game this year, especially since he anticipated a run-heavy offense at the campaign’s outset. Much of that success has to do with the play of JP Nye at quarterback, but the coach has also been impressed with his QB’s leadership.

“It’s always tough to comment on your own kid, but he’s embraced the position completely since the middle of last year. He realized this year we would need that position filled if we were going anywhere. We really wanted to run the ball, because we have great guys on the line with Gabe Furches and Matt Luchuk, but we only have two rushing touchdowns,” Coach Nye said. “JP’s having a lot of fun at the top, and his real value is in his leadership and his ability to communicate with the guys. He’s the class president, and he has a knack of public speaking.”

Coach Nye added that Caldwell’s big day on offense helped propel the Huskies to the victory.

“Two years ago, Ryan caught 45 passes as a sophomore. He had to sit out last year, and now he’s picked up right where he left off,” Nye said. “He’s a really great route runner that has really embraced running angles. It’s made him a better defensive back, too.”

Coach Nye felt especially happy for his team’s senior captains—JP Nye, Savage, Zack Johnson, and Luchuk—who’ve been plugging away throughout the past couple of years. North Branford proved a formidable opponent for Morgan, and Nye felt the Huskies showed that they can make the right plays in pivotal situations.

“North Branford does a lot of great things, and is very well-coached. They had the ball a good chunk of the third quarter. At that point, I was hoping we could respond,” Nye said. “Our senior leaders believe they can score on any play. It was really good that we were able to come back. It meant a lot to the kids who hadn’t had the taste of a win in a while.”

The Huskies have a bye week for Week 5, after which they will face Pequot Conference rival Haddam-Killingworth at the Peters Complex at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12. H-K just earned a 37-22 home win over Morgan on Sept. 21, but Coach Nye is hoping that having home-field advantage will help tip the scales in his squad’s favor.

“We’re off the schnide now going into the bye week. Then we’ve got Haddam-Killingworth, and that’s probably our biggest rival,” he said. “The old Morgan School housed them, too, so there is a bit of history there. We get them at home this time. We’re pretty optimistic.”