ROCKY HILL - The Rocky Hill Terriers started the season with the goal of hosting a playoff game in early December. Friday night, the Terriers took one step closer to achieving that goal by trouncing the Rockville Rams 48-6 in Vernon.

       A winless Rockville team was celebrating their Senior Night in front of a standing room only crowd and was hoping to pull off a shocking upset over the playoff-bound Terriers, but Rocky Hill scored early and often en route to their fifth straight victory.

       Connecticut Play of the Year candidate Chris Young carried the ball only twice, but he turned both attempts into dazzling touchdown runs. The scintillating senior running back improved his staggering touchdown per attempt ratio to five, meaning that Young scores a touchdown every five times he touches the ball this season. To put Young’s accomplishment into perspective, if National Football League superstar Arian Foster scored every five times he carried the ball, he would have ran for 70 touchdowns and completely shattered the record books last season. If there were such a thing as high school fantasy football, Young would be the consensus first overall selection.

       Young put the Terriers up 7-0 when he bounced a run towards the right sideline and weaved in and out of several Rams before carrying two Rockville defenders on his back as he dove across the goal line. The spectacular run covered 35 yards and brought the visiting crowd to their feet. On his next carry, Young burst through the heart of the Rockville defense and outraced their secondary for a 24-yard touchdown jaunt. The two touchdowns increased his total to 28 for the year, which breaks his own school record of 27, which he set last season.

       â€�"Coach and I discussed it before the game,” Young said, â€�"I knew I was done for the night once I broke the record.”

       With Young resting on the sideline, the Terriers closed the first quarter in style when quarterback Andrew Jenkelunas used a masterful ball fake to deceive the Rockville defense before throwing a strike to receiver Tommy Seaver on an out route. Seaver overpowered two Rockville defenders on his way to the end zone before stretching the ball towards the goal line and hitting the pylon, giving Rocky Hill a commanding 21-0 lead after the first 12 minutes.

       The Terriers defense hounded Rockville’s run-oriented offense for the entire first half, holding them to a mere four first downs. However, Rocky Hill did have a tough time tackling Rams’ bruising fullback AJ Spencer, who provided the Rams only score of the night in the second quarter. Facing a fourth and 11, Rockville quarterback Chris Perez took a shotgun snap and drifted to his left before spinning around a throwing a screen pass to Spencer who had nothing but green grass in front of him. The throwback screen pass worked to perfection and resulted in a 42-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 28-6.

       Spencer’s touchdown seemed to give the Rams some energy and the home team was hoping to carry that momentum into the second half. However, as he has done all season, Jenkelunas engineered another epic last minute drive. With 39 seconds left in the half, the senior signal caller delivered a picturesque spiral down the right sideline to halfback Grant Nieves, but Nieves dropped the pass in the end zone. Undeterred, Rocky Hill ran the exact same wheel route for Nieves on the following play and this time the talented junior running back hauled in the touchdown pass with only 33 seconds remaining in the half. The momentum swinging score silenced the hometown faithful and increased Rocky Hill’s lead to 42-6 at the half.

       Rocky Hill coach David Coyne rested most of his starters for the remaining two quarters, giving playing time to his younger players. One player who shined when given the opportunity was sophomore Jason Carducci, who made several tackles and delivered big hits from his safety position. He made a highlight reel play in the fourth quarter when Rockville speedster Tom Bartol broke free from the Terriers front-seven and raced towards the end zone. Carducci, who came from the opposite side of the field, amazingly chased down Bartol 60 yards downfield and tackled him short of the goal line. Rockville was called for holding, so the play did not count, but it showed the Rocky Hill coaching staff that Carducci can be the leader of their defense once this season’s talented group of seniors graduates.

       One of those seniors is Greg Marzilli, who scored Rocky Hill’s lone touchdown of the second half when he broke several arm tackles before striking pay dirt from 38 yards out. Marzilli continues to astonish fans with his powerful kicking leg and completed the triple crown of football in the first half when he scored a three-yard touchdown, nailed the extra-point, and booted the ensuing kickoff into the end zone for a touchback.

       The Terriers (9-1) will have a bye next week and then travel to West Hartford to take on the Northwest Catholic Indians (7-3) in a pivotal conference showdown on Thanksgiving.

       â€�"It’s going to be tough. We have some time off, so we’ll have to stay focused in order to get a home playoff game.” Young said. â€�"We’re going to be tested by Northwest Catholic, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

       A win would assure that Rocky Hill will host a playoff game, but the Indians will be looking to spoil the Terriers’ pre-season goal. The Terriers have beaten the Indians the past two seasons, but both games have been decided by seven points or less. Get your turkeys in the oven early, because kickoff for the conference clash will be Thanksgiving morning at 10 a.m.