October
16, 2005
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| Bryan Yanuzzi scored the game's lone touchdown with 7:54 to play in the game as Cliffside Park got its fourth win of the season against two losses. | |
ENGLEWOOD -- It did not look that pretty in the air and it was good by just the slimmest of margins, but it was a 29-yard field goal that kissed the right upright at the end of Dwight-Morrow's first possession of the game that was still holding up as the game's lone points well into the second half.
Cliffside Park’s first seven possessions ended it six punts and one interception, the Red Raiders gained just 17 total yards in the first half and their option offense was, literally, stuck in the mud.
But if nothing else, Cliffside was patient. More than willing to protect the ball and play a game of field position, its success was being measured in inches not points.
“We had trouble moving the ball at first, but what Cliffside Park football is all about is never giving up and fighting to the final play,” said Cliffside senior running back and linebacker Simon Bracco. “We just had to keep pounding away until we could get where we wanted to go.”
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| Filling in for the injured Mike Epps, Englewood junior Jason Blackwood had 75 yards rushing and kicked a 29-yard field goal for his team's lone points. |
After relying on its defense and the right foot of lineman Kevin Vargas, who doubles as the punter, Cliffside’s steady approach finally started to move the chains. With a 13-play, 45-yard drive that spanned the end of the third quarter and the first four minutes of the fourth, the Red Raiders got the only touchdown of the game in a 7-3 win in Englewood and a boost in the North 2, Group 2 power point rankings.
Nothing came easy against the speedy Englewood (4-2) defense and even the winning drive only became that by the slimmest of margins. After being stopped at the 2 yard line on an option keeper to the right on third-and-goal, Bryan Yanuzzi tried the left side on fourth and goal from that spot. With the Englewood defense biting on the fake to the fullback, Yanuzzi went untouched around the end for the game-winning points.
“It’s the best feeling in the world when you see it open up like that. It was like walking on air for those two yards,” said Yanuzzi, speaking of the uncontested trot into the end zone after an afternoon full of grinding. “We needed this game. We are rolling into a tough game against Tenafly [next week] and a tough Dumont team after that, so we needed this game to keep us safe [in the playoff race] and move us up in power points.”
Englewood was without the services of Mike Epps, its standout senior running back, who was inured in freak accident on Friday night when the car in which he was riding was sideswiped while Epps’ arm was resting on the open passenger’s side window. Epps may play next week, but the running game was put in the hands of Jason Blackwood, a junior generously listed in the program as 5-7, 165.
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| Cliffside Park lineback George Rodriguez getting a sack and causing a second quarter fumble. |
Blackwood carried four times for 20 yards on the Maroon Raiders’ first drive of the game to help set up his own field goal, the one that struck the upright before deciding to fall in, for Englewood’s only three points.
Englewood had one more first half scoring opportunity on its final drive of the second quarter when Josh Griffin hit Joe Gray with consecutive passes to get to the Cliffside 38 with 28 seconds to go, but George Rodriguez, the Cliffside linebacker coming on a blitz, leveled Griffin on the next play and the resulting fumble was recovered by Vargas.
Blackwood, who finished with 75 yards on 13 carries (including a 21-yard loss that went against his ledger when he recovered a wayward lateral), ripped of a 45-yard gain on the first play of the second half to help set up another field goal attempt, but it was knocked down at the line of scrimmage. Emile Issa scooped up the bouncing ball and returned it to the Englewood 40 to turn field position in Cliffside’s favor.
That came in handy when the two teams traded punts and Cliffside Park (4-2) got the ball back at the Englewood 45, from where it started its game-winning drive.
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| Joe Gray had 6 receptions for 63 yards for Englewood, which fell to 4-2 on the season. |
“I thought it was just a matter of time before we could establish our running game. We tried to throw a little early on, but they brought a lot of guys and with the field conditions, we knew were going to have to get it done on the ground,” said John Ranu, Cliffside’s first-year head coach. “Defensively we got it done and that is saying something because they have athletes all over the place and it was our defense that put us in a position to win.”
Englewood moved the ball one last time on its final drive with Marcus Cushnie hitting Gray (6 catches, 63 yards) on consecutive passes for a first down and then again four plays later when, facing a fourth-and-9, Cushnie lofted one up the left sideline.
Gray outjumped a defender and tipped the ball to himself, hauling in a circus catch at the Englewood 40, but Vargas then caused a fumble with a big hit on the quarterback, Joel Morales recovered it and Yanuzzi needed only to kneel three times to run out the clock on Cliffside’s fourth win of the season.
“I have to tip my hat to Cliffside Park. They came in here and played well and in the second half they had us biting on the dive, which opened things up for them on the outside,” said Englewood head coach Bill Davis. “Being honest, I thought we made some mistakes as a coaching staff and I told the kids that we’ll take this loss on us and that they should keep their heads up.”
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| Simon Bracco and the Cliffside running game got going in the second half. |
Davis may have taken the blame for Saturday’s ‘L’, but he should also be given the credit for turning around a program that was floundering before he arrived. It has taken three years to rebuild, but Davis has guided the Maroon Raiders to their first four-win season since 1996 with still three games left to play. Englewood is currently in seventh place in the North 1, Group 2 power point rankings and is already playoff eligible.
So is Cliffside, and although the game tape of Saturday’s mud-caked win is not likely on its way to Canton, it was good enough to keep the Red Raiders within shouting distance of a playoff home game.
“After a tough loss last week [against Queen of Peace], this reestablishes us as a team that can beat a quality opponent,” said Ranu, whose team’s final two games before the state cutoff will be played at home. “We just played six straight road games and came out 4-2. That puts us in a good frame of mind for making a run to the state playoffs.”
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