Triple OT loss to Ellington motivated Granby/Canton in offseason

GRANBY, Sept. 11, 2026 – Two losses really stung the Granby/Canton football team a year ago. In week two, the Bears fell behind by 11 points and dropped a one-point decision to the Coventry co-op for their only win of the season.

A few weeks later, the Bears coughed up a 21-point lead in a triple OT loss to Ellington. Those two losses helped keep Granby/Canton out of the CIAC playoffs.

The Bears got a bit of revenge on Friday night. Granby/Canton QB Joe Lewie ran for two touchdowns and threw a pair of TD passes as the Bears blanked Ellington, 34-0 in the season-opening contest for both teams.

“After last year’s triple OT loss, we’ve been talking about that day since hitting the weight room in December and through the preseason to take care of it today,” Granby/Canton head coach Erik Shortell said. “For the boys to show up and dominate in all aspects of the game, I am proud of them.”

Lewie ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries while completing 4-of-7 passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Gabe Mensah led all rushers with 129 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

“Today’s win means a lot as a confidence builder,” Lewie said. “All winter and all summer, the motto was to beat Ellington after we lost in triple overtime. It left a sour taste in our mouth. Getting that back was huge.”

Granby/Canton started on the first offensive play of the game. Lewie lofted a pass to Elijah Sam, who got behind an Ellington defender and raced away for a 65-yard TD pass with 11:43 left in the first quarter and a 7-0 lead.

The Bears extended the lead to 13-0 on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Lewie to Jacob Kilty for his first varsity TD reception with 10:18 left in the first half.

After Ellington failed to convert on a fourth down play from their own 36-yard line, the Bears took over. Mensah powered 23 yards to the Ellington 13-yard line and Lewie raced around the right side for a touchdown and a 19-0 lead with 5:58 left in the first half.

Ellington, which qualified for the CIAC Class M playoffs a year ago, had a nice drive to close out the second quarter with a seven-play drive to the Granby 15-yard line. The big play in the drive was a 36-yard reception from QB Kolton Ortyl to Jacob Perreault to the Granby 20-yard line with 31.5 seconds left in the half.

But a 31-yard field goal attempt from Alden Gottier was short.

Ellington opened up the third quarter with a 16-play drive that began on their own 38-yard line and ended on the Granby eight-yard line. It took nearly 10 minutes. The Purple Knights converted on third down twice and once on fourth down.

But this drive also ended with a failed field goal attempt.

With its first possession of the second half, Granby/Canton rode the hard running of Mensah on six consecutive running plays into the end zone. Mensah scored on a 41-yard run with 10:17 left in the game for a 27-0 lead after Kiely ran in for the two-point conversion.

Granby/Canton faces old Pequot Conference rival Gilbert co-op next Friday night in Winsted at 7 p.m. as part of the Connecticut Football Alliance. Gilbert left for the Naugatuck Valley League following the 2021 season and have had success in the NVL. They’ve won one NVL divisional title and have secured two CIAC tournament berths.

Granby/Canton won on opening day for the fourth straight season and pitched their third opening day shutout in the last four years. The Bears blanked the SMSA co-op a year ago, 49-0 and blanked Valley Regional/Old Lyme, 28-0 in 2023.

Granby/Canton 34, Ellington 0
At Granby
Ellington (0-1)                   0  0  0  0  — 0
Granby/Canton (1-0)     7  12  0  15  — 34
First quarter
G: Elijah Sam 65 pass from Joe Lewie (Jacob Kilty kick), 11:43
Second quarter
G: Kilty 10 pass from Lewie (kick failed), 10:18
G: Lewie 13 run (pass fails), 5:58
Fourth quarter
G: Gabe Mensah 41 run (Kilty pass from Lewie), 10:17
G: Lewie 3 run (Kilty kick), 6:38
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Granby/Canton – Joe Lewie 11-73, Keandre Hunter 5-12, Elijah Sam 1-6, Gabe Mensah 14-129; Ellington – Kolton Ortyl 9-48, Brett Powell 11-40, Sammy Vrakas 7-14, Mattax Dimovski 2-11
PASSING: Granby/Canton – Joe Lewie 4-7-0, 90; Ellington – Kolton Ortyl 7-18-1, 72
RECEIVING: Granby/Canton — Elijah Sam 3-79; Ellington – Vraskas 1-1, Jacob Perreault 2-39, Alex Austin 1-10, Mattax Dimovski 2-13, Eli Bahler 1-9