Frank Speziale Photo

NORWICH – The Purple Tornado received the opening kickoff Friday against the Windsor Black Knights. The first offensive play for Norwich started with a hand-off from quarterback Thomas Parrella to running back Eric Conant. The play resulted in a 67 yard touchdown, the first of seven for the home team in their 49-19 victory over the Black Knights.

Conant led the offense with three touchdowns, one of which was a pass from Parrella for 54 yards midway through the second quarter. He totaled 81 rushing yards on eight carries for two touchdowns.

It wasn’t just the play of Conant that led Norwich to a win in the 2018 home opener. The Tornado defense allowed Windsor to score three touchdowns and gain a total of 238 yards offensively, but it wasn’t until the second half that the visiting team started to pick up their yardage.

At the half, Norwich had total of 318 yards on offense with the defense allowing just 38 Black Knight yards.

Norwich’s Eli Rodriguez and J.T Vinal picked off two Zach Wolcott passes thrown in the first half, creating two of the three turnovers the Tornado forced. The other was a fumble by Windsor that Vinal was able to jump on top of to create the second scoring drive for the home team.

The drive resulted in Conant’s second touchdown, one he scored untouched from seven yards out.