Sunday, September 21, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

PATERSON – Although Glen Rock went to the locker room with a surprising eight-point lead over Paterson Catholic, it still was not a great feeling for most of the Panther players and that was because they squandered a chance late in the half with the ball inside the PC one-yard line to punch another one in and make it a two-possession game.

The feeling that the opportunity to break Paterson Catholic’s 50-game B-PSL winning streak was slipping away was felt two more times when PC tied the game on the last play of the third quarter on a kickoff return, then took a seven-point lead on its next possession to seemingly break the spirit of the Panthers. Pushed to the brink of disappointment, Glen Rock senior quarterback Chuck Stewart was going to make sure that he had a say in the game’s final outcome.

Stewart threw for one touchdown and ran for another on Glen Rock’s last two drives to grab his team a late lead. Although they went from leading by a touchdown to trailing by a touchdown in a manner of minutes, Paterson Catholic was not done yet. Greg Moore scored with 29 seconds to go, cutting the GR lead to one.

Instead of going for the extra point and forcing overtime, Paterson Catholic head coach Benjie Wimberley elected to go for the two-point conversion and the win. With the way the big Cougar line was blocking and with Moore in the backfield, it appeared to be the correct decision. However, Glen Rock’s Andrew Lohr had other ideas.

On the two-point attempt, he stuffed Moore at the line of scrimmage and Brendan Miller finished off the tackle as Glen Rock held on for a wild 35-34 win, snapping Paterson Catholic’s 50-game B-PSL winning streak.

“We figured that they were going to go for two, and we were ready for it,” said Glen Rock head coach Alan Deaett. “After all that happened in this game, it came down to wrapping up on one play and (Lohr) made a great play.”

What made the outcome even more unlikely was how bleak it looked for the Panthers just minutes into the contest. Jordan McFadden returned the opening kickoff 41 yards and Moore followed with a highlight reel 38-yard touchdown run to put Paterson Catholic ahead, 6-0, just 22 seconds into the game.

The Panthers fumbled on their first possession of the game, and PC’s Todd Anderson recovered giving the Cougars great field position. Elijah Shumate swept around the left end for an apparent touchdown, but it was called back on a holding penalty. That proved to be a huge play as Lohr’s fourth down sack stalled the drive and gave Glen Rock a much-needed boost.

The Panthers then embarked on a 10-play, 86-yard drive. They marched easily down to the Cougars’ six-yard line when near disaster struck. With Stewart in the shotgun, the snap went over his head and he recovered it on the 29 for a 23-yard loss. But on the very next play, Stewart used a great ball-fake on a playaction pass and hit a wide open Mike Escalante for a 29-yard score. Sean Miller booted the first of his five extra-point tries, giving Glen Rock a 7-6 lead.

Throughout the first half, the Cougars shot themselves in the foot with silly penalties. They had 11 of them in the first half alone, totaling 85 yards. One of them coming on Glen Rock’s next drive when on a third-and-five, they jumped offsides to give the GR a first down. Five plays later, Stewart used some nifty moves on a nine-yard touchdown run to make it 14-6.

Glen Rock got the ball back with four minutes to go in the half and managed the clock perfectly in marching down the field. They did everything correctly except the most important thing; put the ball in the end zone. The Panthers had the ball with second-and-goal from inside the PC one-yard line. But Stewart got stuffed on a quarterback sneak, the third-down exchange was fumbled, and Stewart was tackled for a loss by Moore on fourth down as time expired in the first half.

Although the scoreboard showed Glen Rock 14, Paterson Catholic 6, it certainly had the feel of a tie game with the pendulum of momentum swinging towards the Paterson Catholic sideline.

“We were disappointed about not punching it in, but we had to put it behind us,” added Deaett. “We had (24) minutes of football left to play and we were getting the ball back to start the second half. I just told the kids that we still had the lead. We needed to play with confidence, limit our mistakes, and exploit the mismatches when we had them.”

On their first drive of the third quarter, the Cougars looked to set the tone and did so by running behind their large offensive line. They breezed up the field 71 yards in just seven plays with Moore scoring up the middle from five yards out. Jaquiess Gerald hit Maurice McDonald in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion, tying the game at 14.

Glen Rock answered by showing that PC was not the only team that can strike quickly. Kenny Andretta started the drive with a diving catch for a 26-yard gain. Stewart capped the five-play, 59-yard drive with a six-yard run to make it 21-14 with 10 seconds left in the third quarter.

But any euphoria felt the Panthers dissipated before the fourth quarter began. That was because McFadden showed off his speed again by taking the ensuing kickoff 86 yards to paydirt, knotting the score again at 21.

After forcing a three-and-out to start the fourth quarter, the Cougars got the ball back and went right back to Moore. His 45-yard jaunt got the ball into deep into Panther territory. Two plays later, Gerald threw a perfect pass on a fade route to McDonald in the corner of the end zone. The successful PAT by Eric Rios put Paterson Catholic ahead, 28-21.

This was a back-and-forth shootout throughout three-plus quarters. The type that Paterson Catholic was not used to, but one they would usually win even if they were due to its talent, size, and athleticism. The Panthers continued relied on their heart and their determination to succeed. By doing so, they also showed that they still had some bullets left in the chamber for what proved to a classic finish to an already great game.

The Panthers needed a lift and got one on special teams. After McDonald’s touchdown to give Paterson Catholic the lead, Ben Lerner took the kickoff 44 yards as Glen Rock started the potential game-tying drive in PC territory.

Stewart hit Lerner for an 18-yard completion on the second play of the drive. He then ran for a 14-yard gain down to the PC 11. On the next play, Stewart rolled out, then threw across his body through a pair of PC defenders, hitting Andretta in the middle of the end zone, which tied the game at 28 with 6:27 to play.

“That was the biggest drive of the game for us,” said Stewart. “Even though they had the momentum, we were only down by a touchdown. The two things for us to do were to keep our composure and run the plays coach called for us. Our mindset going into the second half and especially the fourth quarter was to bend, not break.”

Paterson Catholic got the ball back, only to give it away two plays later. Glen Rock’s Chip Morel recovered the fumble and Stewart came back on the field needing to go just 44 yards to put the Panthers ahead. He did just that by keeping the ball himself and running on the final three plays of the drive. He just got the ball over on a quarterback draw from two yards out and Miller added the PAT as Glen Rock grabbed a 35-28 lead with 3:48 to play.

Paterson Catholic had one last chance and did the wise thing by keeping the ball in Moore’s hands. On the 13-play, 78-yard drive, Moore carried the ball eight times for 50 yards. The last of which was a four-yard burst on a third-and-four from the Panthers’ five-yard line. On first-and-goal from the one, Gerald snuck in with 29 seconds left cutting Glen Rock’s lead to one, 35-34.

With the line blocking well, Moore running well, and having a sophomore placekicker, Wimberley called timeout and diagramed a two-point conversion play with Moore getting the ball.

“Greg (Moore) is our best runner and he was our bread-and-butter man today, I was making sure the ball was in his hands,” said Wimberley.

Paterson Catholic used mostly a power-I or single back formation on the final drive, but decided to switch things up and go from the straight-I formation. This caused a little bit of confusion, but not for Lohr. On the two-point attempt, Moore saw a small opening between the left tackle and guard. The junior standout went to hit the hole hard, but never got there. Lohr met him head-on, and got a hold of his leg until Miller came over to finish off the tackle.

“The game came down to one play and I knew I had to be in the middle of it,” said Lohr, a junior linebacker. “I can’t begin to tell you how tired I was. But all those gassers we run in pre-season were for this exact situation. I was exhausted, but I still had enough energy to give it all I had for one more play.”

The Cougars’ last-ditch effort was an onside kick from McDonald, which was a beauty. But neither team could recover it and it went out-of-bounds, giving possession and the game to Glen Rock.

“Give Glen Rock credit, they never gave up and they made big plays throughout this game,” added Wimberley. “It hurts right now, it hurts real bad. But the positive is that we can only learn and get better from this. I still like the makeup of this team and we’ll become a better football team because of how intense this game was.”

The loss was the first for Paterson Catholic (1-1) against a B-PSL opponent since nearly six years ago to the day (Sept. 21st, 2002) when they were also beaten by Glen Rock. In a losing effort, Moore had a fantastic day on the ground with 28 carries for 204 yards and 2 TDs. The Cougars also got a solid performance from Khairi Harris with five tackles, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery.

After accounting for six touchdowns in the season-opening win over Saddle Brook, Stewart was once again outstanding over a more talented opponent. He was 15-for-20 for 225 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. He was equally as dangerous with his legs as he was with his arm. He rushed 19 times for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Overall, he has accounted for 11 of the team’s 12 touchdowns this season.

Escalante was the leading receiver with eight catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. Leading the way defensively for Glen Rock (2-0) were Morel and Lohr, who combined for 15 tackles.

The win was something Stewart and his teammates had dreamed of the night before. But to see their vision materialize into one of Glen Rock’s biggest wins of the decade is something Stewart is still trying to grasp.

“This is an incredible feeling and part of me can’t believe this actually happened,” said Stewart. But we have worked very hard and we knew we were capable of winning this game if we executed our gameplan. Coach Deaett always tells us to ‘seize the day’. If there was ever a day to do it, today was that day.”

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