GLASTONBURY — Glastonbury quarterback Connor Finnerty believes it was in fourth grade when he first tried to talk his good friend Daniel Wallace into giving football a try.
As the years went by and Wallace politely turned down the sales pitch as he focused on basketball and baseball, Finnerty was still hoping there would come a day when he could see Wallace come down with some of his down-field passes.
Wallace, driven by the desire to experience Friday nights while playing in front of what he called the best student section in Connecticut, made quite the first impression on the football field, even if his first game took place on a Thursday.
Little did the two of them realize what would transpire the first time they shared the field as high school teammates. Wallace had three huge catches, including one worthy of SportsCenter Top 10 recognition in the Guardians' heart-stopping 41-35 overtime victory against visiting Southington on Thursday night.
Wallace opened the scoring with a 32-yard touchdown catch and set up a game-tying touchdown with grabs of 28 and 24 yards. His final catch had to be seen to be believed as he plucked the ball away from a Southington defender to set up Dante Casdia's touchdown run on the final play of the fourth quarter. Thomas Pingel's extra point sent the game into overtime.
"Connor has been recruiting me for years,” Wallace said. "He is one of my best friends and he finally got me, I guess."
Southington appeared to score the game-winning touchdown on a 14-yard scoring run by quarterback Luke Prozzo with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Finnerty and Wallace had a quick chat before trotting onto the field and needing to drive 70 yards to extend the game.
"I told Connor it has been open the whole game, just hit me,” Wallace said. "I can't drop this one. It had a few hands on the ball and I had to come down with it."
In overtime, Southington had third-and-goal at the 1, but a fumble on a direct snap to running back Nicholas Andrews put Glastonbury in position for the walk-off win.
Casdia, who ran for 145 yards, did the honors with a 1-yard scoring run.
None of that happens without the improbable final drive of the fourth quarter when Finnerty and Wallace stole the show.
"He is a great baseball player, a great basketball player," said Finnerty, who threw for 187 yards and had two short scoring runs. "I trusted him. He is a great kid, he is an athlete and he is able to perform under pressure. He balled out in practice and I trusted him when we needed him.
"I have never been in a game like this in my life. It was truly incredible to come out on top."
Prozzo had 240 passing yards as he threw for three scores and ran for two others. However, penalties and turnovers prevented Southington from putting the game away.
"We made too many mistakes. That is the bottom line,” Southington coach Rob Levesque said. "Nobody wins games like this with turnovers and penalties."
Walker Mierzejewski led Southington (1-1) with 117 yards on four catches, including a 69-yard touchdown. Daniel Corrado finished with seven tackles for the Blue Knights. Caden Powers and Mason Nardi added six tackles.
Nicholas Filiault led Glastonbury (1-1) with six tackles.
Glastonbury 41, Southington 35 (OT)
Southington 21 7 0 7 0—35Glastonbury 7 14 0 14 6—41
S—Rosco Cook 31 pass from Luke Prozzo (Jacob Carrier kick)G—Daniel Wallace 32 pass from Connor Finnerty (Thomas Pingel kick)S—Prozzo 3 run (Carrier kick)S—Walker Mierzejewski 69 pass from Prozzo (Carrier kick)G—Connor Finnerty 7 run (kick failed)G—Dante Casdia 1 run (Bennett Bedard pass from Finnerty)S—Cook 11 pass from Prozzo (Carrier kick)G—Finnerty 1 run (Pingel kick)S—Prozzo 14 run (Carrier kick)G—Casdia 2 run (Pingel kick)G—Casdia 1 run (no conversion attempted)