December
10, 2003
March 21,
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| Gianluca Ragone's score on Ramapo's first drive got the Raiders off to a quick start, but it was just the beginning of a wild state final. | |
EAST RUTHERFORD - Charlie Granatell knew that he had but one chance at the brass ring. The Ramapo quarterback had patiently waited his turn, and now he stood one game away from finishing his football career as a state champion.
With former New York Giant quarterback Phil Simms serving as his mentor throughout this season, and maybe some time of the course of the season, Simms broke out a tape of his Most Valuable Player performance in Super Bowl XXI, because his protege went out and did him one better with an MVP performance of his own.
Granatell, playing in the stadium that Simms once called home, completed 16 of 18 passes for a school playoff record 335 yards and three touchdowns and led Ramapo (11-1) to a wild 31-28 win over a game Demarest team in in Tuesday night's North 1, Group 3 final. It was Ramapo's seventh state title since the playoff system began in 1974 and its third in the last four seasons.
Demarest
saw a five-game winning streak end, but the Norsemen (8-4) gave the Raiders
all they could handle before finally seeing their hopes end on a failed onside
kick with 1:29 to go in the game.
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| Ramapo QB Charlie Granatell closed his high school career by setting a school record for playoff passing yards with 335. |
For Granatell, it was likely the end of the road, as there aren't too many collegiate opening for a 5-foot-8 quarterback, but he went out in a blaze of glory in a game he almost missed. After a miserable game in the rain in a loss to Indian Hills the night after Thanksgiving, he came down with what was feared to be pneumonia.
He only got clearance to return to practice last Thursday, which was the day before the state final was originally scheduled. Had the snow not pushed the game off, he would have been well less than 100 percent.
In fact, Ramapo head coach Drew Gibbs, who was also missing his second-string quarterback, had worked wide receiver Kyle Roeder in at quarterback and installed an option offense. Thankfully for Ramapo and Granatell, Mother Nature intervened.
While Granatell was having a monster game, Demarest quarterback Vinny Esposito was doing everything he could to keep the Norsemen in the game. The senior scored two touchdowns and threw for two more, completing 15 of 28 passes for 204 yards without an interception, despite being constantly chased and knocked to the turf.
"He did
a great job," Gibbs said of Esposito. "That was as gutty a performance as
I've seen from an opponent."
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| Demarest quarterback Vin Esposito continually brought his team back despite taking a pounding in the pocket. |
Despite being sacked five times, Esposito brought his team back in the fourth quarter, throwing his second TD pass of the game to Thomas Won with 1:29 to go. The 23-yard scoring play was followed by a two-point conversion pass from Esposito to Won that drew Demarest within 31-28.
"When there were five minutes to go in the game, I was thinking that there were just five minutes to go in our season. When there were three minutes to go, I knew there was just three minutes left in the season and I just kept playing," said
Esposito, explaining how he was able to continually pick himself up after his team all but abandoned the run and Ramapo all but game up on trying to defend it, instead just coming hard after the QB. "I knew I had eight months to rest when it was all over."
Down to just one time out, Demarest had to go with the onside kick and James Thompson's try had the right bounce, but after going 8.5 yards, it kicked back towards the Norsemen before going out of bounds without traveling the required 10 yards. That gave Ramapo the opportunity to run out the clock.
The game
began as though it would resemble the regular season game that Ramapo won
by a 37-0 score in October. The Raiders took the opening kickoff and traversed
71 yards in 10 plays, with Granatell going 4 for 4 passing and hitting Roeder
three times. Gianluca Ragone swept the right side for the final 10 yards,
and Bobby Heilmann added the first of four straight extra points.
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| Ramapo sophomore Chris Hogan came into Giants Stadium with one catch for 27 yards. He left with 5 for 213 yards and a score. |
"They've got some solid players out there, and we were just looking to find the seams and get open," Roeder said, and Granatell added that, "we were looking for the holes in the zone. I have great receivers, and they made some big plays for me, too."
After a Demarest punt on their first possession, Gibbs went with Roeder under center and the option offense. The "experiment" lasted just two plays, as Roeder lost two yards on the first snap and fumbled the second, which Michael Kang recovered for the Norsemen.
"Whoa, what a good idea that was," Gibbs deadpanned. "Boy, it sure looked good in practice, though."
On the first play after the turnover, Esposito hit Kenny Amsel in the back of the end zone for an 18-yard TD, and Mike Siebold hit the PAT to tie the game at 7. Ramapo charged back, but the Demarest defense held and forced a 35-yard field goal try by Heilmann, who was wide left.
The Norsemen could not get their offense moving and Ramapo kept shooting itself in the foot. A Roeder 33-yard catch to the Demarest 17 was negated by a penalty, and Chris Arnold dropped a wide-open pass in the end zone that led to another missed field goal from 27 yards out.
That
sent the teams into halftime at 7 each, and when Demarest came out and took
the second half kickoff and scored, there was upset in the air. Going to the
shotgun almost exclusively and all but abandoning the run, Esposito moved
his team down to the 1 thanks to a 16-yard completion to Jarrett Solimando
and a 24-yarder to Ray Grier that put the ball at the Raider 1-yard line.
Esposito went around the left side for the TD on the next play and Siebold
added the point after.
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| This catch by Ray Grier set Demarest up for a go-ahead score on the opening drive of the second half. |
"We beat them so bad in the season, but they just kept getting better and better," linebacker Andrew Salinger said of the Norsemen. "This just became a war, and Esposito was unbelievable. He did a great job."
Granatell picked up where he left off in taking Ramapo downfield to the equalizer. The payoff was a 9-yard TD pass to Roeder (8 catches, 106 yards), who made a sliding catch right on the goal line. Heilmann, who finished the year a perfect 57 of 57 on extra points, knotted it with 3:50 to go in the third.
Ramapo forced a punt, and on the first play, Granatell went deep down the right sideline to sophomore Chris Hogan, who came into the game with 1 catch for 27 yards on the season. He went up and over the defender, making the catch and racing the rest of the way to complete an 85-yard scoring play.
"I'm amazed, I'm so happy," Hogan said before talking about the go-ahead score. "Charlie threw it up, I just went up and grabbed it and ran for my life."
Hogan also had a 70-yard catch-and-run in the first half before the first missed field goal, and he finished the game with 4 catches for 186 yards
"They were giving me a big cushion, and we (he and Granatell) talked it over just before that play," Hogan recalled on the 70-yarder. "The outside was there, and I just got past my guy and had open field."
"He came
up huge," Gibbs said of Hogan. "Everybody knows about Roeder and Arnold, people
cover them up, but Charlie had great confidence in Chris. He kept saying,
coach, lets get him the ball here, and he made plays."
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| Tommy Won's TD catch and two-point conversion got Demarest to within three points with 1:29 to play in the game. |
That made it 21-14, and, after a Kyle Tinsley sack and forced fumble that David Silberstein recovered, they added an 18-yard Heilmann field goal to make it 24-14 with 11:12 left in the game.
Esposito kept bringing Demarest back, as he completed five passes 68 yards to get to the Ramapo 1. He snuck it in from there, but Siebold's point after was wide, leaving Ramapo up 24-20 with 6:28 to go.
Hogan had a 24-yard catch on the next Raider series, and Arnold atoned for the earlier drop with a 23-yard touchdown reception with 3:42 left to make it 31-20.
Again, Esposito brought his team back, hitting Won for 11 yards and Grier for 24 to set up the Won TD and two-point conversion.
"He's our warrior. Vin Esposito is a tough kid, an outstanding football player and he showed up here tonight. He kept bringing us back," said Demarest head coach Scott Rubinetti, whose team, even in defeat, put a stamp on a turnaround season that came after last year's 2-8 campaign. "We had a bunch of kids step up and make plays in the biggest game of their lives and we were right there in the fourth quarter against an outstanding team."
Ragone ran 25 times for 115 yards for Ramapo, which finished with a 440-212 advantage in total offense. Ryan Coger had 7 tackles, 1.5 sacks and three tackles for losses, while Silberstein had 1.5 sacks as well. Won paced Demarest with 14 tackles and also had 5 catches for 49 yards. Solimando and Tom Caporale each had 7 tackles and Esposito and Amsel recorded sacks.
For more pictures from this game or to purchase a Collector's Print of this story, visit the NJS.com School Store!
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