That is until the final play of the game when the Regal senior waited through three timeouts and booted a 37-yard field goal to win the game, 24-21.
The victory kept the third-ranked Regals perfect after five games and handed Wilton its second loss. The Beavers have lost only to the No 1 and No 3 teams in the state.
The winning heroics were set up by a gutsy decision by Wilton coach Lance Pedersen to go for a first down on his own 39-yard line with 2 minutes, 31 seconds left. Coach Pedersen called for the Beavers to go for a play on 4th down and about 6 inches and Wilton was turned away.
With 2.6 seconds left and the ball at the 20 Regina took timeout. Then Wilton took two timeouts in an attempt to shake up the kicker.
None of that would have mattered if it hadn't been for a 44-yard touchdown pass from Jack Verducci to Kevin Arnold in the third quarter that enabled the Regals to tie the game and turned the momentum around.
Regina added another touchdown on a 60-yard drive to take a 21-14 lead and seemed to be in control.
Wilton's Erik Grunder stepped in front of a Verducci pass and returned it 46 yards for the tying touchdown with 7:38 left in the game, setting up the final dramatics.
Sean Sullivan, who was taking Damiano's spot at safety, had two big interceptions for the Regals.
Wilton pushed Regina all over the field in the first half but was only ahead 14-7 at intermission thanks to a dramatic 78-yard touchdown pass from Nick Lyon to P.J. Lanaghan.
The Beavers ran 20 more plays from scrimmage and out-gained Regina on the ground 115 to 9 yards. They had eight first downs to four for the Regals. The Regals did have more passing yards (110-86) thanks to the long TD pass. Wilton doubled Regina's total yardage output 253-132, the only aspects of the game Wilton did not best the Regals in were turnovers and of course the score.
The Beavers took advantage of a muffed punt after their first possession to score the game's first touchdown. Regina's Mike Rummelhart wasn't able to corral a Wilton punt and Wilton recovered on the Regals' 36. The Beavers had to convert one fourth-down-and-one play in the drive and did so on a Grunder 2-yard run.
Grunder's five-yard run for the TD gave the Beavers a 7-0 lead with 7:01 left in the first quarter.
The Beavers were deep in Regina territory a couple other times and came up empty. After a long pass to Kyle Holmes set the Beavers up at the Regina 35, they moved as deep as the 28 before quarterback Alec Crawford wasn't able to grab the snap in a shotgun formation, and Regina's Tyler Nelson recovered at the Regal 35 to halt the threat.
Wilton got the ball right back when Holmes intercepted a Verducci pass at the Wilton 48 and returned it to the Regina 27. Wilton drove to the Regal 7-yard line but on fourth-and-five, the Beavers disdained a field-goal attempt, fumbled the snap and the Regals recovered.
Regina inserted Lyon, a senior quarterback, on the next series of downs and he hit Lanaghan with a gorgeous pass on a fly pattern. Lanaghan beat Wilton's Ryan Duffe to the ball, cut up the middle and ran 78 yards for the tying TD with 7:23 to play in the half.
Wilton again made it into Regina territory and was again stopped on a fourth-down and inches play at the Regal 47, but Regina's offense wasn't able to move the chains and had to punt.
Wilton then put together another 68-yard drive aided by a couple successful shovel passes to its backs. Crawford eventually ran one yard for the go-ahead TD with 34.9 seconds left in the half.
