NORWICH – The Norwich Purple Tornado football team hosted non-league opponent Union-Endicott in a battle to the finish with both teams playing competitively in the first half before defenses put up big stops to close out the game. Norwich held on to a 31-28 lead.

“ Our resilience was amazing,” Norwich head coach Mike Chrystie said. “We stayed together at times of adversity and not let ourselves get down and we made plays when needed.”

Both teams scored on their first drives with touchdowns, including Norwich’s one yard rushing touchdown from Braden Hagenbuch. U-E recovered a fumble on Norwich’s second drive and converted it into a field goal. The score was 9-7 U-E after the first quarter.

Norwich fired back and scored two touchdowns on back-to-back drives with a one yard rush by Tiernan Lindsay and a one yard run by Ryan Evans with successful two-point conversions on both scores. U-E answered back with two touchdowns of their own, but the kick was no good on one. Norwich took a one-point 23-22 lead at halftime.