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Trumbull's Rowan Johnston crosses the goal line on a pass reception for the first of his seven touchdowns in a 49-43 victory over Masuk on Friday, September 9, 2022.

TRUMBULL — He came in late in the opener last season against Staples and carried the ball a couple of times without note. Rowan Johnston started the second game at running back against Ludlowe. Third snap from scrimmage, he was blocking on a pass play. “The dude came from the left of me,” Johnston said, “and I was looking to the right. He blew me up.”

Johnston threw his hands back to brace himself. He landed hard. He broke his wrist. No surgery was needed, but Johnston missed six weeks. He was able to return as a wide receiver for two games at the end of the season. Caught a couple of passes. That’s 100 words of background to explain Rowan Johnston had never scored a varsity touchdown before he scored seven – seven! – for Trumbull on Friday night in the wild 49-43 victory over Masuk. “First of all, I have a ton of confidence when I’m playing on the field,” Johnston said. “I thought I was going to get three-plus touchdowns from the get-go. Seven was totally out of my reach. That’s a crazy number.

“I never knew I was capable of seven. I guess no one else did as well. I didn’t have an opportunity to get my name out my sophomore year. I had to show who I am.” According to the Connecticut high school football record book only eight players in history have had more than seven in a game. Twenty-five more scored seven. The 5-foot-8, 165-pound junior is among the rare. None had done it before Sept. 27 on the calendar. So it is a fairly safe assumption no one had gone from zero to seven as fast Johnston. That would make him unique. With thousands of games over more than a century, the record book does not pretend to have every stat. It turns out, coach Marce Petroccio said, Daryl Parler, the 1991 New Haven Register Player of the Year, had nine touchdowns in a game for Trumbull. In one sense, Johnston is a bolt of out nowhere. After all, he wasn’t even listed among the top names in the season preview questionnaire sent out by GameTimeCT. Petroccio prefers to list his seniors. “I was hiding him,” Petroccio said jokingly. Johnston, who finished with 186 yards on 28 carries and 130 yards on six receptions, was not an unknown quantity to his teammates and coaches.

“I had very high expectations,” Petroccio said. “He is a phenomenal athlete.”

“We didn’t expect seven touchdowns,” quarterback Hunter Agosti said. “But we expected him to be a really key player.”

It turns out Trumbull would need all seven TDs. In Crazy Game of Week 1, 2022 Edition, Masuk erased a 20-point deficit in the second half to take a 43-42 lead on a two-point conversion in the final minute.

Only 26 seconds remained when Trumbull got the ball on its 46. Agosti hit Johnston for a 24-yard gain to the Masuk 30. He found Johnston again for a 29-yard gain to the Masuk 1.

“First play, it was working all game, it was a wheel route,” Agosti said. “I was reading the corner to see if he followed the post. I rolled out because the pocket collapsed. I found Johnston open on the sidelines.

“We actually switched his play to an out route the next play. I rolled out again and the linebacker came chasing up at me. I threw it over his head. Then we ran our heavy set and just blast right through.”

Johnston said he and Agosti, whose analysis is good enough to have his own podcast, have discovered a “crazy connection.”

“That second play that went to the 1 wasn’t really drawn up at all, for me at least,” Johnston said. “I just kind of moved up field. It was insane. I’m thinking if I played this good of a game, no way we’re losing.”

Johnston took the direct snap, baby-bulled into the end zone with three seconds left. Three plays. 54 yards in 23 seconds. Trumbull wins. Impressive.

“It felt so great,” Johnston said.

He was five when he started football. Too young for Trumbull Pop Warner, he played in Milford for one year. He always wanted the ball in his hands.

Freshman year, there was no football because of COVID. Sophomore year, broken wrist. Junior year? Broken tackles.

Agosti and Ben Carley, senior captains, went directly to Johnston’s work ethic. He worked so hard during the off-season, Agosti said. As far as effort, Carley said, he’s the standout in his grade.

“Rowan runs low, a low pad level,” Petroccio said. “Everything he does is downhill and it’s 100 mph. He can run and he can catch, too. We have this weapon. We’ve got to figure out a way where he can get the ball. We have other weapons as well.”

With the addition of offensive line coach Zach Voytek, who played at Trumbull, New Haven and spent some time with the Bills, Petroccio said his O-Line is pushing around opponents like never before. It is an experienced team with 18 senior starters.

Beyond Johnston’s numbers, Trumbull came away with two more happy dividends. First, there were big expectations last season and Trumbull lost to Staples in Crazy Game Week One, 2021 Edition, on Charlie Howard’s 73-yard interception return with 17 seconds left.

“We were driving for the winning score and I threw the pick six,” Agosti said. “I told everyone on the sidelines this is turning out like last year, but we’re going to score this time.”

That opener last year haunted Trumbull, which finished 7-3 and barely missed the playoffs.

“We were chasing one game the entire season,” Carley said. “So this was huge for us.”

In a second way, too.

“We were like 30-throw, 30-pass in the game,” Petroccio said. “We already knew we had the quarterback and receivers and now you’ve got to cover the back out of the backfield. He makes us multi-dimensional. And let’s face it. Not a lot of people are running it these days.”

Agosti, who passed for 2,611 yards in 10 games last year, threw for 320 yards against Masuk. He has a big target at tight end with Carley. With Masuk double-covering Luca Antonio, Jack Durland caught seven passes for 86 yards. Gone are Corbin Smith, the All-State Swiss Army knife who is in England playing rugby, and Owen Solano. The returning receivers, including Sam Lapham, are taller targets.

“I love Rowan, but he’s not Corbin,” Agosti said. “He does play a familiar game. He’s fast. He’s elusive. He’s tough to bring down. I can’t think of one play where the first Masuk guy to get to him brought him down.”

Petroccio said one legitimate comparison to Smith is Johnston makes his moves full speed.

“He’s not going to stop, pitter-patter,” Petroccio said. “He’s going to go full bore. Like Corbin, when you tackle him, he’s going to punish you. He has great hands. He has unbelievable vision which Corbin had as well.

“Corbin just had a gear and another gear on top of that gear. Rowan is so fast out of the gate and that’s what he is. He slipped on the turf the other night or he would have had even more.”

Amid the celebration Friday night, Johnston said the senior captains told him they loved him. It felt great.

“I feel the exact same way,” Johnson said. “Those are guys are my leaders and my friends. Those guys are my everything.

“I’m going to slow down a little bit. I know that. Seven is crazy. But I’m going to keep going for that number every week. It’s not like I’m giving up on trying to get more than seven.”

jeff.jacobs@hearstmediact.com; @jeffjacobs123

Jeff Jacobs is a 10-time Connecticut Sports Writer of the Year and four times has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as one of the top 10 columnists in the country. Jeff's passion for local sports runs the gamut from high school athletics to UConn basketball - he has covered all four UConn men's championships and 10 of the 11 women's titles. He's also covered multiple Olympics, World Series and Super Bowls. Along the way, he has demonstrated a zeal for the big scoop and a finely honed ability to convey essential human tales that resonate far beyond the sports world.