On the Central sidelines at halftime, people (none of which were Hilltoppers players or staff) asked me when Bridgeport Central last won an FCIAC championship. My answer: Never, and they haven’t won anything yet tonight.

The games not over until the scoreboard clock reads 0:00. And I remember standing in the Staples sideline during a regular season game against Central three years ago, when the Wreckers came from behind in the fourth quarter to stun the Hilltoppers.

I thought there were a few momentum swings in the second half that made me say Staples was going to come back, more so than any swings in Central’s direction.

Staples did a great job adjusting at halftime, as they always seem to do. Wreckers players absorbed some vicious blows from the Central players, and somehow popped right back up and went back to work.

And Staples didn’t get down when Brendan Rankowitz dropped a sure-fire touchdown pass on a flea-flicker pass on its second-to-last drive of the game. Heck, everyone thought that was the end for the Wreckers, and that Central would certainly get a first down and ice the game.

But Staples stacked nine in the box because they knew Central was just going to try and push the pile. A time out was called after the first, second and third down plays and suddenly Staples had another shot.

Now, back to the second-to-last series by Staples (or at least I think it was that series, I have to look back at some video). It appeared a Staples player fumbled a ball at about the Wreckers’ 25 yard line, and that the ball bounced into junior linebacker David Rhoden’s hands, and that Rhoden was going to go in untouched for a Central score.

But the play was blown dead. The whistle came after Rhoden recovered the fumble. It would have given Central a 16- or 17-7 lead.

I didn’t get that. It appeared the Staples runner was stood up at the line of scrimmage and instantly fumbled the ball. But certainly based on how the officials had earlier let both teams play a physical game, there’s no way they could have said forward progress had been stopped.

Anyway, enough about the officiating because I’m not big on criticizing referees (they’re human, they make mistakes).

I want to know when you think the momentum shift went to Staples, and if you think there was more than one momentum shift for the Wreckers.