Bobcats Football Shows Fight

Six Bacon Academy football players made all-conference. From left, Julian Rodegher, Lucian Dean, P.J. Walsh, Kevin Claffey, Brady Gould, and Avatar Disher were each selected All-Eastern Connecticut Conference (ECC). Claffey was also named the conference’s Scholar Athlete and Gould received the conference’s Sportsmanship Award.   

The final score wasn’t what they envisioned, yet the Bacon Academy football program showed a never-give-up attitude in a 27-21 loss to RHAM at Howell Cheney Technical High School on Nov. 21.

Despite his Bobcats falling to their neighboring rivals from Hebron for the ‘Battle for the Rail’, Bacon Academy head coach Bill

Chaffin liked the progress his program has made since last year's game when his team was soundly defeated (41-12) at RHAM High School. 

“I’m proud of the way they fought all year and I’m proud of the way we fought tonight,” added Chaffin, who just wrapped up his second season leading the program. 

Unlike last year’s loss when RHAM scored the first 20 points, Bacon struck first this year when sophomore quarterback Riddick Burroughs capped a nine-play drive by plunging in from one-yard out, putting the Bobcats up 7-0 with 5:12 to play in the opening quarter. 

After allowing the Raptors to score 21 straight points, Bacon showed the fight of a team on the rise, scoring on each of their next two offensive possessions when senior Avatar Disher had scoring bursts of 58 and 40 yards. Disher finished with 143 yards on nine carries and the pair of long touchdown runs. 

Disher’s quick strikes provided the lightning, while fellow senior Brady Gould sounded the thunder.

Gould punished RHAM’s defense for 146 rushing yards on 34 carries, including a dozen straight rushing attempts on the team’s second possession.

An emotional Gould reflected on the back-and-forth game, saying, “I’ve been playing with some of these guys since the sixth grade and we wanted to win this game to end the season right, but I couldn't be prouder of this team.”

Although the heartbreaking finale didn’t end the way they wanted, the Bobcats had some celebratory moments this fall.

In the team’s season-opener, the Bobcats blanked Bethel 21-0 behind a potent rushing attack that ran for 249 yards and three scores, two courtesy of Gould. 

Bacon also hammered Weaver 49-6 on Sept. 22 before earning a memorable 61-0 home win over Montville on Oct. 21 in what was dubbed “The Mud Bowl” because it was played in a rain-soaked field at Bacon Academy. 

The Bobcats ran for six touchdowns in the 61-point win, yet it was the defense that stole the show as sophomore Skip Coogan recovered a state-record six fumbles, one for a touchdown. 

With three wins this fall, the team tripled their win total from a season ago when they won one game in their first-year under Chaffin. When Chaffin took over in 2021, he was tasked with rebuilding a program that was coming off a winless season in which the Bobcats were forced to forfeit their final three games because of alleged Title IX violations.   

“From day one this is a completely different team,” said Chaffin, who credited the departing seniors for creating a winning locker room.  

“Their freshman year was the COVID year, their sophomore season got canceled, and their junior year they got a new coach,” recalled Chaffin. “I thank them for sticking around after all the stuff they went through. Things were looking dire and down –– they could have walked away, but they didn’t. All of these seniors stuck it out and everyone on this team should be thankful for that.”

Gould, who was one of five senior captains, said he and the departing players are leaving with their heads held high.   

“The whole season has been a night and day difference, this game especially,” added Gould. We just came up short tonight, but there’s really good things happening for this program. It’s only going up from here.”

Gould was one of six Bobcats honored all-conference, joining Disher, P.J. Walsh, Kevin Claffey, Julian Rodegher, and Lucian Dean. 

Four of the six all-conference selections will be graduating, yet Rodegher and Dean will return as the Bobcats attempt to take the next step under Chaffin. 

​“I feel like we’re headed in the right direction,” stated Chaffin. “We’ve got to continue to get in the weight room in the offseason, but these young guys played hard and I’m proud of them.”