Lewis Mills/Wolcott Tech looks to continue positive growth

Quarterback Jayce McDonald is one of several starters returning for the Lewis Mills/OWTS football team this fall.

By STEVE BARLOW
Special to The Collinsville Press
BURLINGTON, August 21, 2026 – A 2-8 record is often not a cause for optimism in high school football.

For the Lewis Mills-Wolcott Tech co-op, though, a look beyond last year’s record unveils plenty of reasons to feel upbeat. For one thing, the first-year merging of the Mills and Tech players occurred seamlessly, starting right off the bat at a preseason football camp in Niantic.

“The suffering together and staying in barracks with each other definitely helped people bond,” said offensive lineman Curtis Gilbert, a Mills student. “Some kids I’d never met before became close friends after that.”

“I think we got along really well and brought (the program) a lot of new faces,” said wide receiver Gryfn Kobylarz, a Wolcott Tech junior.

Those new faces were welcome additions, providing the Spartans much-needed depth and padding the JV roster. While 2-8 isn’t great, the two wins doubled the number from the previous year and equaled the total from the previous two seasons combined (ignoring a forfeit). Not only that, but the Spartans were more competitive from kickoff to final buzzer in Jay Pace’s second season as head coach.

“Look at the margins we lost by,” said Pace. “In my first year here as defensive coordinator and my first year as head coach, most games were decided by halftime. The score was like 30-40 to zero. There weren’t many games like that last year. We’re competing for four quarters now. That’s a step in the right direction.”

Other reasons to smile: Some 26 freshmen, split almost evenly between the two schools, turned out this year and the entire roster numbers 64. Pace knows there inevitably will be attrition, but this indicates growing interest in football. Also, the coaching staff has expanded from six to nine, which will help to teach all those newcomers the right way.

“We’re proud of what we’ve built the last two years, and we just want to continue to build on it,” said Pace.

The team returns seven starters on each side of the ball. On offense, Jayce McDonald is back at quarterback after being thrust into the job as a sophomore when the incumbent starter chose prep school. It was a trial by fire for McDonald.

“He was a sophomore, all nervous to start and not overly confident,” Pace said. “As the season progressed and he understood what we needed him to do, he really settled in. His passing yardage was actually impressive, over 1,600 yards and a bunch of TDs. We have to work on the interceptions, but as a sophomore we knew he’d make mistakes. He’s worked hard in the offseason, and we’re excited.”

Senior Mason Scanlon returns at running back with Kobylarz as the top passing target. Four seniors – Nate Bertrand, Spencer Criss, Jack Rewenko and Gilbert – anchor a veteran offensive line. The Spartans also return a strong placekicker in Brady Fredritz, a Wolcott Tech sophomore who commutes from Sharon for practices.

“Our biggest downfall was just being able to convert in the red zone. We had some terrific drives. We’d get inside the 20, the 10, then fall apart,” Pace said. “We need to finish drives this year.”

“I think we’re going to do great things,” said Kobylarz.

Defensively, the Spartans return Bertrand, the leading tackler, and Rewenko, the leading sack man, on the line. Senior Zion Francis is back at middle linebacker and Kobylarz leads the secondary.

“Missed tackles and missed assignments were an issue a lot of the time last year,” Gilbert said. “We’ve done a lot of work in the offseason and the start of practice to address a lot of that. In my opinion, we look a lot better.”

“We get so many kids who’ve never played football before,” Pace explained. “We have to teach the right technique in a short amount of time, which is hard to do. But we’ve devoted our practices to 45 minutes, an hour of just tackling, tackling progressions, form tackling, tackling with bags, without bags, with helmets and pads. We did that every week and we saw improvement.”

Mills ended last season with a 19-6 win over Avon, snapping a four-game losing streak to the Falcons. This season begins Sept. 11 at home against Plainville.

“We want every year to be competitive,” said Pace, who led Wolcott to four state playoffs in six seasons as head coach. “We don’t want one good year and then fall off for three years. We’re trying to build a program that can continually be a success.”

Besides Pace, the coaching staff includes James Crandall, Ray Zetye, Brady Ronalter, Pete Pace, Jeff Gilbert, Aidin Traver, Nick Vecchiarelli and Rich Klett.

LEWIS MILLS/OWTS
Last year: 2-8, 1-6 CCC Tier 4
Coach: Jason Pace, third season (3-17); Career: 14 years (75-63)
Nickname: Spartans
Last winning season: 7-3 in 2015
CIAC playoff class: Class L
Last CIAC playoff appearance: none
League or division championships: none
Opening day record: 7-8. Most recent opening day win: 2024: Lewis Mills 35, Montville 28
Social media: Instagram: millsfootball; Twitter or X: @mills_owts_FB
Team website: none
Of note: Pace previously coached six seasons at Wolcott High (2011-16) and six seasons in Newington (2017-22), leading Wolcott to the CIAC playoffs four times and Newington to the playoffs once (2019). … This is the second year of the co-op program with Wolcott Tech. … Mills has two Connecticut Football Alliance games against Pequot Conference member Morgan/Old Saybrook/Westbrook co-op and the Griswold/Wheeler c0-op from the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

2026 schedule
Fri. Sept. 11: PLAINVILLE, 6:30 p.m.
Fri. Sept. 18: MORGAN co-op, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 25: at E.O. Smith, 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 2: at Griswold/Wheeler, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 16: TOLLAND, 6 p.m.
Thur. Oct. 22: vs. East Catholic at Cheney Tech, 7 p.m.
Thur. Oct. 29: at Rocky Hill, 6:30 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 7: RHAM, noon
Sat. Nov. 14: at NW Catholic, 10:30 a.m.
Fri. Nov. 20: AVON/ST. PAUL, 6 p.m.

Coming soon

Simsbury football 2026
Farmington football 2026
Granby/Canton football 2026