(Frank Speziale Photo)

NORWICH – The Purple Tornado went to battle with the visiting Maine-Endwell Spartans for 48 minutes on the gridiron Friday night but fell one touchdown short of the comeback attempt in the 35-28 loss to the current No. 2 team of the Section IV Class B standings.

Despite Norwich trailing by two scores a few times throughout the game, the home team was not to be counted out at any point during the contest. With the Purple Tornado scoring a 54 yard touchdown through the air, Norwich pulled within seven points with 4:10 remaining. 

The stout Tornado defense came up with a stop, forcing M-E to punt the ball back to Norwich after the three-and-out stand with less than a minute left in the game. The punt, which had a short distance to travel to pin the Tornado deep in the their own territory, took a nice Spartans roll to give the home team the ball starting inside the five yard line. 

Norwich’s quarterback Griffin Mills attempted to pass the ball down the field twice but one pass fell incomplete. The other saw Mills get brought down to the turf with the clock running down. The final attempt was complete to a Norwich receive as time expired and as they hoped for a little magic, the Tornado team began to lateral the ball backwards. 

However, the first pitch back fell to the ground after a Spartans player got a hand on it, ending the game.