Old Town football holds off John Bapst after action-packed 2nd half

Thursday night’s rain-soaked football game between Old Town and John Bapst did not fail to entertain.

Facing a 24-0 deficit with less than 1:30 remaining in the second quarter, the Crusaders quickly marched downfield and scored 2.8 seconds before halftime.

Upon receiving the second half kickoff, Bapst scored two more times in a row — stopping the Coyotes’ offense for the first time all night — and suddenly it was a 24-21 ballgame.

“We got slapped in the third quarter, but we came back and slapped them even harder,” Old Town sophomore lineman Donovan Davis said. “We stuck together.”

With the John Bapst crowd rocking and things looking dire for the Coyotes, sophomore quarterback Ethan Closson played the role of special teams hero, running back an 87-yard kickoff return TD to help seal the victory for Old Town.

It was his first career kickoff return.

John Bapst responded with junior Aiden Ouellette’s second rushing touchdown of the fourth quarter (the signal-caller also threw a 21-yard TD in the second and tallied 169 all-purpose yards), but Old Town found its offensive groove again and iced it with a 20-yard touchdown run for junior Ben King.

Old Town improved to 2-2 on the season with the 40-27 victory, avenging its regular season and regional semifinal losses to John Bapst last year. The Crusaders fell to 1-3.

“We came into this game with a little chip on our shoulder from last year’s playoffs,” Old Town senior running back Elijah Alston (159 yards rushing, one touchdown, four two-point conversions) said. “We knew we were going to come out with this win. We just had to keep on playing.”

It was an emotional win for Old Town, who was playing its annual “Riverfest” football game all the way at Hermon’s Pottle Field turf, due to muddy conditions back at Victory Field.

The stakes were raised even higher for the Coyotes after star senior JP Reinzo went down with an ankle injury midway through the second quarter. Reinzo, Old Town’s every-down running back/linebacker, had already sliced through John Bapst’s defense for 123 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries when he left the game.

The Coyotes felt his absence, as the Crusaders immediately found their rhythm on both sides of the ball. Closson’s kick return touchdown snapped Old Town out of its funk.

“With JP being out, [Elijah] stepped up, the line played great, and most importantly the linebackers stepped up. That’s a very hard position to fill,” Closson (56 all-purpose yards) said. Describing his kick return, he added, “I just saw a wide open hole. Somebody blocked someone great. It was amazing.”

Assisting Ouellette in John Bapst’s comeback bid were junior wide receiver Malcolm Butler and sophomore fullback Thomas Curtis. Butler (47 all-purpose yards) caught the Crusaders’ first touchdown of the night, and ran in their fourth. Curtis compiled 91 rushing yards on 13 carries.

Moving forward, Old Town will host Belfast (0-3) at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, and John Bapst will play Winslow (2-1) at Cameron Stadium on the same date and time.