Three key touchdowns. Three heartbreaking penalties. 

The Barrington High School football team committed three costly penalties in the second half of Friday night’s game against Burrillville, each penalty erasing a long touchdown run by the Eagles. 

Those missed scores, combined with a few missed tackles on defense, cost the Eagles dearly, as they lost by one point, 20-19, to the Broncos.

“They killed us,” said Barrington High School Football Coach Sandy Gorham of the second-half penalties. “Three touchdowns called back. I bet you we had 100 yards in offense that was taken away because of penalties. One down here on a holding penalty. That’s the game. That’s what they called. Nothing I can do about it.”

With less than five minutes remaining in the game, Barrington’s one-time 17-0 lead had turned into a 20-17 deficit. But the Eagles’ offense responded to the challenge — BHS quarterback Griffin Ingram and running back Zach Borges took turns gashing the Burrillville defense. 

On first and 10 from the Broncos’ 38 yard-line, Ingram handed off to Borges. The junior running back barreled around the right side of the line, turned up-field and sprinted into the end zone. The huge home crowd at Victory Field cheered wildly from the bleachers. But the apparent go-ahead score was called back on a holding penalty.

The referees backed the ball up to the Burrillville 48 yard line. The Broncos sacked Ingram on first down, but the junior play-caller made them pay on second down — Ingram tucked the ball under his arm and powered for a 32-yard gain to the Burrillville 16. 

Ingram picked up another four yards on the next play, and then handed to Borges on second and six from the 12. Borges raced around the left side of the line and galloped into the end zone. Again the crowd cheered, and again the referees dropped a yellow penalty flag on the turf: Holding against the Eagles. 

Barrington coaches pled to the referee that it was Burrillville’s defensive back who was actually grabbing the BHS blocker. 

“Barrington beat Barrington today,” said Gorham. “Burrillville did not beat Barrington.”

The Eagles’ last second heroics fell just short. After the defense held, Barrington’s offense took over possession with 39.6 seconds remaining. The Eagles moved the ball to the Broncos’ 30 yard line. A field goal try with time running down landed a few yards short. 

“I tell the kids — You play four quarters in these games. It ain’t over til it’s over, til the clock goes 0.00. You can’t allow yourself to lapse. Football, all sports, they’re games of momentum,” Gorham said. 

Barrington opened a 17-0 lead in the first half and had a firm grasp on momentum until about a minute before halftime. Burrillville connected on a long pass play and cut the Eagles’ lead to 17-7. 

“Yeah, I think that really hurt us,” Gorham said of the Broncos’ touchdown before the half. “I was telling the coaches ‘We’ve got to get out here. I think it was 17-0 at the time.’ Then 17-7. Then the third quarter we just stumbled a little bit. We went to a different set.”

Burrillville narrowed the gap to 17-14 a few minutes into the fourth quarter, and then took the lead with 5:53 remaining. 

“We did miss some tackles in the open field. That long run. Got their first down,” Gorham said. “We almost picked the ball off on the last touchdown, but we ran right by it. Didn’t see it. 

“It’s disappointing, but they played hard. The effort was great. No issues on that. Just the mistakes.”

Eagles host Falcons

Barrington will host Cranston West in a Division I showdown on Friday night, Sept. 18. The game will start at 6:15 p.m. The Falcons are 2-0 so far this season, with a 33-6 win over Coventry and a 42-6 win over West Warwick.