The scenario was set for a miracle Norwich drive to beat Windsor in regulation. About 80 seconds remained on the clock in the fourth quarter, and the Tornado needed to move 80 yards for a score.

It was not a favorable situation for the typically run-based Tornado offense, that, as recently as the 2007 season, threw the ball just 42 times over the course of a nine-game season.

What did head coach John Martinson do? He went to a hurry-up two-minute offense. “We’ve worked a lot on that in practice,” Martinson said.

The key to the offense was receiving proper protection for the quarterback, and sophomore Seth Thomsen, operating out of the shotgun formation, had plenty of time to look over the defense and deliver strike after strike. Thomsen completed 7-of-9 pass attempts over the second half, and his lone incompletions were spike-downs to stop the clock. “Tom Stoddard, our offensive line coach, has done a tremendous job with our linemen in setting up the pass protection,” Martinson said. “We still want to do what we do well (run the ball), but we’re adding a little bit to the offense each week, and we want to attack our opponent’s weaknesses.”