STAFFORD, Conn. -- Football began in Canton, Ohio, and underwent a rebirth in Canton, Conn., on Friday.

Nestled in the northwestern part of the state, Canton has longed for a football team for 44 years.

A year ago, Canton had a club team. With no town funds committed to the team, the Friends of Canton Football raised money to assemble the first varsity team to take the field since 1963. The group held raffles and a golf tournament and sold T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts.

"Last year, we only had four or five kids out of 41 kids that had any previous experience playing football," Canton Warriors head coach Graham Martin said.

The players told Eyewitness Sports they want "to make Canton out to be a giant."

"I expect to win, and I hope everybody else expects to win because that's what we work out here for," Canton fullback Justin Rice said.

Warriors Meet Bulldogs In First Game

"When they hired me, their expectations were organization and get a team going. My expectations were to be very competitive and win football games," Martin said.

Without a home field, Canton will travel for all of its games this season. The Warriors traveled on Friday to Stafford/East Windsor to face the Bulldogs -- a game that went back and forth from the start.

Rice took the ball from the five, and Canton scored the team's first points. By the second half, quarterback Nick Delvecchio found Luke Mentzer over the middle -- a defender tried to get the pick, but it was just out of his reach.

Mentzer made the reception and was off to the races and in for six points.

Stafford/East Windsor later came back with a spin move inside by quarterback Jake Rummell, who took it in for the score. The Bulldogs went on to win the Warriors' inaugural game, 24-18.

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