BETHEL — For about six minutes Saturday afternoon, Winthrop allowed Telstar to bask in the muggy sunlight of its return from a 30-year hiatus from varsity football.

Then the Ramblers officially welcomed the Rebels to the Campbell Conference.

Winthrop scored 41 points in the first half, pulled its starters with a little two minutes left in the half and cruised to a 41-14 victory in the first varsity football contest played in Bethel in 30 years.

Sophomore quarterback Jared Hanson threw for 73 yards and three touchdowns for Winthrop. Zach Glazier ran for 82 yards and a touchdown and Dany Moody rushed for 75 yards and a score.

“We knew we needed a win, because we needed to get that taste, that feeling of a win so we can use that, use it for motivation and keep going with it,” said senior lineman Tyler Reeve, who provided Winthrop’s other score with a 4-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

Will Lyman rushed for 57 yards and Telstar’s first touchdown. Dylan Helms added a 14-yard TD run late. The Rebels were playing without seven starters who were suspended for one game for violation of team rules.

“We had a hard time blocking, especially No. 44 (Robin Cook), who was causing a lot of havoc,” Telstar coach Tim O’Connor said. “We knew our introduction into Class C football was going to be tough.”

Winthrop made it clear immediately just how tough when it took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards to its first score, a 36-yard pass from Hanson to Dan Miles.

Telstar thrilled its small but vocal home crowd on its first play from scrimmage. Senior tight end Corey Howard got behind the secondary, hauled in a pass from sophomore quarterback Jared Vermette and rumbled 60 yards to the Winthrop 19.

The Rebels converted on 4th and 6 with a well-executed draw play that Lyman took to the 8. Two plays later, Lyman scored from two yards out and the game was tied after he added the PAT.

“I think it was one play that just let them get a head of steam for a second,” senior lineman Tyler Reeve said. “We came back and we gave it to them.”

“I think that first drive we were still playing tentative. We’re young,” Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton said. “But I think once we started playing defense better and making things happen, our offense started to click. I think they saw that once we started playing physical, which we’ve been lacking, we can play.”

Winthrop asserted itself on its next series, driving 66 yards to take the lead for good. On 4th and 9, Hanson found Damion Hanson (no relation) over the middle for a 20-yard touchdown that put the Ramblers up for good with 1:44 left in the first quarter.

“That was a slant. He got hit and he kept moving his fee and he broke away and scored,” Jared Hanson said.

The floodgates opened after that, thanks to Telstar turnovers and a Winthrop defense that held the Rebels to -3 net yards for the rest of the first half following the long completion to Howard.

Two plays into Telstar’s next possession, Cook chased down Vermette and forced a fumble that Reeve scooped up and ran in to make it 20-7. A fumbled snap, recovered by Winthrop’s Dominic Cognata at Telstar’s 11, led to Hanson’s third TD pass, which Drew Stratton caught on two knees in the end zone.

Glazier and Moody added scoring runs of 50 and 32 yards, respectively, to cap Winthrop’s scoring.

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