December
10, 2003
March 21,
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| Anthony D'Urso broke free for a 71 yard score that put the finishing touches on West Essex's second straight upset and the North 2, Group 2 state final. | |
EAST RUTHERFORD - During a season in win Rutherford had won 11 games in 11 tries leading into Tuesday's North 2, Group 2 state sesctional final, the Bulldogs have found themselves in all kinds of sticky situations.
They had come from behind numerous times and done so in thrilling fashion, like in the semifinals two weeks ago when they erased three deficits in ousting Cranford by three points.
So when Rutherford was faced with an early 13-point deficit against West Essex, a team playing in its third consecutive sectional final, and a two-point deficit in the fourth quarter, confidence was not a problem.
But what was lacking for the first time this season was the ability to finish off opportunities when they arose. Holding a one-point lead at halftime, Rutherford drove into opposition territory six times in the second half, including two trips to the red zone, but came away with zero points and West Essex running back Anthony D'Urso made them pay.
On his
21st and final carry of the afternoon, D'Urso ran around the right end and
raced 71 yards to cap a 235-yard performance that ended Rutherford's bid for
a state title and its perfect season, 30-21, at Riggin Field in East Rutherford.
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| Rutherford QB Sean Ryan threw for 227 yards and rushed 27 times for 146 yards and three touchdowns. |
"This is a tough way to end everything. We had a great year and we wanted this game very badly," said Rutherford quarterback Sean Ryan. "There was a lot of magic on this team and we'll always remember winning a league championship and all the memories. We wanted to finish off undefeated and it would have been great to win this game, but it didn't happen and life goes on."
After a first half that saw a combined 41 points put up on the scoreboard, the defenses took over and, three minutes into the fourth quarter, Rutherford (11-1) was still clinging to the one-point lead it held at halftime when Ryan nearly picked off a Frank Cerza pass, but it was just off of his fingertips.
West Essex took advantage of the second chance when, on a third-and-3 from the Rutherford 40, D'Urso broke a tackle and raced 30 yards before Sean Gardner tracked him down. The Knights settled for a 26-yard field goal from Mike Rubin to take the lead for good, 23-21, with 6:37 to play.
"You don't realize how huge the kicking game is until a big field goal like that," said D'Urso. "We had a great kicker (Tim Hughes) that graduated last year, and he (Rubin) didn't even know if he was going to play football. We convinced him to play and he has made big kicks for us all year, we're happy to have him."
"Once we got the lead, we focused on making a stop and getting the ball back," added D'Urso. "As the game went on, people just kept stepping up and making plays, especially Frank (Cerza). We made adjustments at the half and it worked out perfectly."
Rubin's
boot gave West Essex, the fifth-seed that upset No. 1 Summit in the semifinals,
back the lead for the first time since it gave back all of the 20-7 advantage
it had built in the first quarter. D'Urso opened the scoring with a 34-yard
run on the game's second play from scrimmage and, six plays later, he broke
free again and went in from 10 yards away. Rubin tacked on the extra point
for a 7-0 lead.
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West Essex QB Frank Cerza was 6 of 14 passing for 88 yards and also made two interceptions on defense. |
Another huge run sparked West Essex's next series. David Caporizzo knifed through a hole and ran 36 yards before being tracked down by Brian Murphy at the 3-yard line before fullback Joe Droz plunged over from the one to make it 13-0.
"We didn't wrap up on our tackles and the next thing you know, we're in a big hole," said Brian Murphy, Rutherford's versatile senior who played well on both sides of the ball at wide receiver and in the secondary. "You obviously don't want to start a game like that, but we had been there before and we knew that we had to bear down. I felt really confident that we would come back and put some points up and we did."
On a third-and-one from its own 45, Ryan faked a handoff, broke a tackle, then raced 55 yards to the end zone to get the Bulldogs on the scoreboard. West Essex answered right back two plays and 33 seconds later on a 50-yard touchdown run by D'Urso for a 20-7 advantage with 51 seconds remaining in a wild first quarter.
The second
quarter belonged to Rutherford's dynamic duo of Murphy and Ryan, who, on a
third-and-7 from their own 46, hooked up for a 17-yard completion to get the
wheel in motion. The two connected again when Murphy laid out and hauled in
a Ryan pass just a foot short of the goal line and Ryan snuck over on the
next play to trim the Knights lead down to six, 20-13.
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| Brad Marquart set up the touchdown that gave Rutherford a 21-20 lead at halftime. |
Rutherford forced the Knights into a three-and-out and got a break that led to great field position. On the fourth down punt, West Essex was flagged for illegal motion. Punter Steve Zurawiecki thought it was a false start, which is a dead ball foul, and let up as Rutherford's Henry Santana raced in a tackled Zurawiecki for a 13-yard loss to give the Bulldogs the ball at the West Essex 27.
With a 10-yard catch and a 10-yard run, Brad Marquart quickly moved the Bulldogs down to the 7-yard line. Two plays later, Ryan, who is hoping to earn an appointment to West Point for next year, walked into the end zone untouched from three yards out. Murphy kicked his third PAT in three attempts to give Rutherford the 21-20 lead that it took to the locker room.
"Rutherford is a very explosive team and we hurt ourselves with penalties in the second quarter," said longtime West Essex head coach Dave Drozjock. "I thought we had a chance to put them away, but they came right back and really had us on our heels heading into the second half."
"We had to go to Cover 0 man-coverage and put some pressure on (Sean) Ryan in the pocket," added Drozjock. "I think we did a great job in limiting their great offense from moving the ball all over us. Plus, we got some big runs from Anthony (D'Urso) when we needed them."
After
Rutherford went three-and-out on its first drive of the second half, D'Urso
broke a 47-yard punt return to give the Knights the ball at the Rutherford
19, but Rutherford defensive back Matt Principe kept his team's lead in tact
when he picked off a Cerza pass.
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| Joe Droz's TD gave West Essex a 13-0 lead that grew to 20-7 by the end of the first quarter. |
On Rutherford's ensuing drive, Ryan ran three times for a first down on third-and-short yardage situations and the Bulldogs got down to the West Essex 20, but Cerza pried the ball loose from Ryan on another QB keeper and L.J. Caprio recovered for the Knights.
After a rare D'Urso fumble, Rutherford took over at the West Essex 26, and drove down to the 7-yard line. The drive stalled and Murphy attempted a 24-yard field goal, but West Essex senior linebacker Matt Ruggiero blocked it,
Ryan hit Murphy twice for first downs as the Bulldogs marched right back up the field, the second of which brought Rutherford to the Knights 25-yard line. But that is where the drive stalled after three incompletions and a sack by Ruggiero.
The Bulldogs got the ball back with just under four minutes to play and drove to midfield on a nice catch-and-run by Marquart for 16 yards, but the next 20 seconds swung the game in West Essex's favor for good.
With West Essex still clinging to the two-point lead, Cerza stepped in front of Murphy on a fly pattern and picked off a Ryan pass at the 29-yard line. On the very next play, D'Urso busted through a big hole and went 71 yards to the end zone and Rubin kicked the extra point to make it a two-possession game and provide the final margin.
"They
were very well-coached and mixed things up a lot defensively," said Rutherford
head coach John DePalma. "We had the ball in their end of the field for most
of the half. If we score on two of those possessions, maybe it's a different
outcome.
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| Brian Murphy and the Rutherford seniors went out with a league title and an 11-1 record. |
Ryan completed 20 of 36 passes for 227 yards and rushed 27 times for 146 and three touchdowns. Murphy caught nine balls for 106 yards, had six tackles, and blocked a field goal. Tim Lanni had six tackles and a sack, Victor Casanova and Sean Gardner added six tackles, and Corey Dunn added five tackles and a pair of passes defensed.
D'Urso was the workhorse in his final scholastic game, rushing 21 times for 235 yards and three touchdowns. Cerza finished with five tackles, two fumbles forced, and the two fourth-quarter interceptions. He also was 6 of 14 passing for 88 yards. Mike Geftic and Mike Puchalski clogged up the middle of the line and each had nine tackles.
"The breaks went our way all year and today they went against us," said DePalma, whose team's perfect regular season gave Rutherford the outright BCSL-American Division championship. "If we played (West Essex) 10 times, we'd end up 5-5. It was a great game of two evenly-matched teams, but they capitalized on the breaks and deserved to come out of here with a win."
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