Dom Amore: For a dogged Central Connecticut football team, this ending is hard to face

KINGSTON, R.I. — Isaiah DeLoatch had that look of a very large man who had lost himself, spent himself completely in the effort to win a football game, knowing it could be his last.

“I couldn’t give you one more play right now,” he said, after getting hugs from his family outside Meade Stadium. “I gave everything out for this game. I wanted to be the first team in Central history to win a playoff game, but I’ve given these past six years. I wouldn’t change a bit.”

For 3 1/2 hours Saturday, the 335-pound DeLoatch and his fellow offensive linemen struggled to keep their bodies between Rhode Island’s bigger, faster bodies and Central Connecticut quarterback Brady Olson, forced by the circumstances to throw 62 passes. “Toughest battle we had all year,” DeLoatch said.

After the 82nd offensive snap, the battle ended when Olson’s last, desperate pass fell to the ground, an exhausted fighter had thrown his last, tired punch. Central had lost, 27-19. For the second year in a row, the Blue Devils season ended on the turf at Meade Stadium, both close games with the Rams, both furious comebacks that fell short.

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“You never think it’s going to end,” Olson said, as the emotions welled up and nearly overtook him. “Yeah, you just never think it’s going to end. Lot of emotions. It’s tough. But I’m thankful for my career here. I wouldn’t make any changes. I’m just so grateful Coach Lech took a chance on me. … Thankful for that.”

Central coach Adam Lechtenberg began the season with mostly new, young players on both sides of the ball. He depended heavily on veterans to teach them, lead them. They took their lumps out of conference, losing 59-13 to UConn, then won six of seven in the NEC to punch another playoff ticket.

“I just told them that I love ’em; that I’m proud of them,” Lechtenberg said. “There’s not much else to say, it’s not fun to lose. They gave so much to our program. We were young, and those seniors were the ones who could teach them how to do it, so what they’ve done, the way that they do it, the character they have, it’s impressive.”

All it took was two third-down misfires at the start of the game for Central to find itself in a two-touchdown hole. Rhode Island quarterback Devin Farrell threw two touchdown passes in the first eight minutes. Olson, already in fourth-quarter mode, converted three third downs and a 4th-and-6 to lead the Blue Devils on a 75-yard drive to get back in the game. But Rhode Island stretched the lead to 24-7 at halftime, with the ball to start the second half.

Rhode Island’s D-line offered no room for 1,000-yard rusher Elijah Howard to operate, and he had only 35 yards on 13 carries. Central’s defense stiffened and held it there. Farrell threw for 359 yards, but URI scored only three points in the second half.

After Enfield’s Zach Bonini faked a punt and ran 16 yards to keep a drive going, Olson threw another TD pass early in the fourth quarter and then, suddenly, the break came. Dekavis Preston intercepted Farrell’s one bad pass and returned it 54 yards. The Blue Devils sideline erupted.

“Complete shift,” DeLoatch said. “We had full faith, full confidence. Just composure, ‘We got this.’ We had it fully in our minds that we were gonna win this game.”

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They couldn’t get back in the end zone, though, only field goals. Central was within one score when Olson got his hands on the ball one last time, at his own 5-yard line with 1:36 left. He got them as far as the Rhode Island 40 before running out of downs, out of time.

Then it was time for Central’s football players, big and small, to face the end of the season. For the younger ones, like Michael Trovarelli from Stratford, who had 11 catches for 106 yards, there will be more football in college. For DeLoatch, from Shelton, who spent his entire career at Central, this is how it ends.

“Emotions are all over the place,” he said. “A little crying, a little reminiscing, kind of everywhere right now.”

Olson, who transferred in from UMass, restarted his career at Central and finished with two years full of game experience, a lot of wins, a couple of tough losses to end them. He threw for 311 yards.

“I didn’t take a chance on Brady,” Lechtenberg said. “Brady’s a talented kid, great person, one of the best people we’ve had in this program. There’s a bunch of others just like him in that locker room. Great people.”

Central does not participate in revenue sharing, has only limited NIL opportunities. Its football players, a lot of them tough Connecticut kids, do it for the love of the game; fight every week for little more than the right to play one more week.

The program has been in the playoffs four times since 2017, and is yet to advance past the first round into the Sweet 16. Rhode Island (11-2) moved on to play at UC-Davis next week. Meanwhile, Yale, playing in its first FCS playoff, came from a 35-7 halftime deficit to win at Youngstown State, 43-42, epic stuff. Miracles do happen, but not for this Central team on this cold November Saturday.

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The Blue Devils left with the feels, all the feels — pride, sadness, gratitude for all they’ve experienced and accomplished together, disappointment not to have another week of preparation for another game. Some will try to get a look from a pro team, the road there from here is extremely hard and not many make it. What they have to hang onto, just as tangible as any trophy or financial dividend, is this memory of spending all of themselves in this common goal they had.

“It came down to the last drive, unfortunately it didn’t go our way,” DeLoatch said. “That’s football, sometimes. In the huddles, we knew we had a chance to do something special. It just didn’t go our way.”

He got his hugs from his family, the bus warming up, but Isaiah DeLoatch was in no hurry to take off the big No. 74 jersey stretched across his body. These endings are never easy to process.

“I love this team,” DeLoatch said. “Been here six years. It’s been a fun journey to the top of the NEC. … When I take off this jersey, I’ll probably cry a little bit more.”