Ansonia mounts comeback to win opener vs. Africentric

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ANSONIA – Ansonia had a tremendous comeback game Friday against the Columbus Africentric Nubians.

It truly was a fight to the finish the Nubians dominated the first half, although the Tigers fought hard and ended up with the victory. The Ansonia Tigers football team started off rough, but they came back in the second half ready and determined to beat the Africentric Nubians.

Ansonia took an early lead with Nick Buckingham scoring on a 5-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.

But Africentric then scored 20 consecutive points with a 15-yard rushing touchdown, a 10-yard rushing touchdown, a 25-yard passing touchdown and a two-point conversion.

Ansonia cut into the deficit with a touchdown to make it a 20-12 game, but Africentric scored on a 45-yard touchdown pass with less than minute left in the half to go into the locker rooms up 26-12.

Africentric extended its lead to 34-12 early in the third quarter before Ansonia started to make a comeback.

Ansonia made a slow recovery in the second half.

Buckingham for a touchdown and two-point conversion, and then Cody Burnfield ran for a touchdown and a two-point conversion to make it 34-28.

With 8:30 left in the game the Tigers scored another touchdown on a 70-yard Dane Wentworth run and added a Burnfield two-point run, getting them caught up, 36-34.

The Tigers then kept following their game with stronger defense and winning the ball back on a fumble, bringing them back to offense to score another touchdown with the extra points by Buckingham.

The Nubians fought hard to catch up, but only leaving them with one more round on offense they turned around and scored a touchdown with the extra point.

The Tigers held the Nubians in the end with a final score of 44-42 in favor of Ansonia.

Coaches from Ansonia agreed the Tigers need more conditioning and are going to work hard this next week for their game coming up against Tri-County North at 7:30 p.m. Friday at home.

The coaches from Ansonia give the Africentric Nubians a “good luck for their future season and give them a pat on the back for having a nice game; they worked hard and definitely made it tough for us to pull out with a win.”

Although the Tigers football team is consisted of mostly underclassman, the upperclassman really pulled out this game with great stats.

https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Web-Ansonia59.jpgAlison Grimes|For The Daily Advocate

https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Web-Ansonia101.jpgAlison Grimes|For The Daily Advocate

https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Web-Ansonia35.jpgAlison Grimes|For The Daily Advocate

Ansonia’s Aydan Sanders makes a tackle during a football game against Africentric on Friday night in Ansonia.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Aydan-Sanders-web.jpgAnsonia’s Aydan Sanders makes a tackle during a football game against Africentric on Friday night in Ansonia. Alison Grimes|For The Daily Advocate

By Alison Grimes

For The Daily Advocate

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