EAST HARTFORD — Cameron White threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Romar Heron and Marlon Britton powered in for the two-point conversion with 1:39 left to lift Bloomfield to a 22-21 victory over East Catholic in the CIAC Class S football quarterfinals Tuesday at East Hartford High.
Bloomfield (8-3), the defending champ, will make its seventh straight appearance in the semifinals, facing Waterbury Career Academy in the semifinals on Saturday.
LIVE SCOREBOARD: High school football quarterfinal results; semifinal schedule
In a back-and-forth game, East Catholic (9-2) was looking to reverse its only loss of the season, 46-18 to Bloomfield on Oct. 16 and win the program’s first postseason game since 1987. The Eagles took a 21-14 lead on Joey Montalvo’s 20-yard touchdown catch. Montalvo caught two TD passes from quarterback Christian Morales, who scored East Catholic’s other TD on the ground. Morales and Montalvo each made an interception on the other side of the ball.
The Eagles contained Bloomfield’s heralded running game for much of the night, but Bloomfield got the ball with 5:46 left on its 32-yard line and went pure power. Britton and Zachai Kimber carried it nine times as the Warhawks moved into position to score, and killed much of the remaining time. White then threw his third TD pass of the game, his 16th of the season, to get Bloomfield within one point. The Warhawks have gone for two points after TDs all year, and made two of their three attempts in this game, the last one to win it.
East Catholic drove deep into Bloomfield territory on its final drive, but Morales was stopped on a fourth-down keeper.