TORRINGTON – The Torrington Blazers put away the Douglas Bearcats in the fourth quarter on Friday to remain unbeaten in 2018.

On Homecoming, the Blazers put up 20 points over the final 12 minutes of play en route to a 40-14 victory.

“They are a good football team,” THS coach Mark Lenhardt said. “Their defense hasn’t given up much of anything. Our guys came out in the second half and we really executed.”

However, in the first half, Torrington struggled to take advantage of several opportunities to put away Douglas early.

On Douglas’ first drive, Josh Kingsley recovered a fumble and returned it to the 10-yard line before giving it back to Douglas.

As a result, the Bearcats drove 90 yards to the game’s first score.

“In the first half, we didn’t get stopped but we stopped ourselves,” Lenhardt said. “I thought, maybe, we were too hyped up in the beginning, if that can be possible.”

Torrington answered the Bearcats on the ensuing drive which was capped off by a 5-yard run by Bryan Lemmon.

Early in the second quarter, the Blazer defense had Douglas pinned back deep in its own territory but a roughing the kicker penalty gave the visitors new life, though the drive ended just shy of midfield.

After the teams traded possessions, Kingsley caused more havoc in the backfield with back-to-back sacks, forcing the visitors to punt.

“Josh is playing great football,” Lenhardt said. “If he’s not the defensive player of the year in our conference right now, I don’t know who is. He plays all over the field.”

It resulted in a Douglas punt, and three minutes later, Lemmon cracked the end zone again.

The Blazers never trailed again the remainder of the game.

THS senior quarterback Casey Britton connected with senior running back Josh Posten on a 2-yard completion for a touchdown.

In the final quarter, Lemmon added scores with a reception of 25 yards and a run of 49 yards to give Torrington a 33-14 lead midway through the fourth.

On Douglas’ next drive, senior Trace English sealed the victory with an interception, and Jared Lemmon capped off the game with a 2-yard run for the game’s final score.

“Trace is a guy who does absolutely everything for us,” Lenhardt said. “I’m so proud for him that he was able to do that. He’s a kid who has worked and gotten better time after time. He’s a great kid and can’t say enough about this group of seniors.”

As a team, the Blazers rushed for 225 yards and four touchdowns, led by Bryan Lemmon who ran for 166 yards on 29 carries. Britton was 14-of-20 passing for 140 yards.

Defensively, Douglas was limited to 288 yards.

Kingsley led the Torrington defense with 25 points, including six assisted tackles, four sacks and a fumble recovery.

“I’m proud of the guys in the way they played,” Lenhardt said. “They competed tonight.”

The Blazers (5-0 overall and 2-0 in the 3A East) host Riverton (0-5 and 0-2) Friday evening at 7 p.m. in Torrington’s final regular season home game.

“Anytime you play Riverton, you are playing a larger school. They have some talent and they have had some struggles this year,” Lenhardt said. “They bring in a great quarterback, and we’ll have to be ready.”