Sunday, December 5, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Junior Troy Zaffino took a pitch on the final kickoff and raced 75-yards for the game-winning TD with :05 left in the fourth quarter of Wayne Hills' 24-21 win over Old Tappan in the North 1, Group 3 state final.

EAST RUTHERFORD -- Having not won a state championship since 1985, having not led for a single second of the first 47 minutes and 37 seconds of Saturday night's North 1, Group 3 state sectional final on Saturday night at the New Meadowlands Stadium, the Northern Valley/Old Tappan football team had just done the improbable. Devin Fuller's 7-yard touchdown pass to Drew Martinez with 23 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter had just given the Golden Knights a four-point lead and what was sure to be a story book ending to an undefeated season. Problem was, Wayne Hills was about to trump the improbable with the impossible.

To pull off one of the most miraculous finishes in New Jersey high school football playoff history, a ‘Miracle at the New Meadowlands’, Wayne Hills head coach Chris Olsen just needed one break to go his way.

“I was just hoping they would kick it Brian Dowling,” said Olsen. “He has been our guy all year.”

Drew Martinez hauling in the TD pass that gave Old Tappan its first lead of the game with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Dowling raced up to field the pooched kickoff at his own 20-yard line and advanced about 10 yards before being corralled by two Old Tappan defenders. Dowling refused to go down and just before his forward motion was stopped or maybe just after it, he found a way to get his arms free and pitched the ball to Troy Zaffino, who had circled in behind as really what amounted to Wayne Hills' last hope.

“Brian got the kickoff and he had nowhere to run. I saw a bunch of Old Tappan players swarm him,” said Zaffino, a junior. “I knew that if I stayed behind him and called for the ball, I could make a play happen.”

A play did happen, one that will standout forever even in Wayne Hills’ long history of playoff excellence. Zaffino took the pitch from Dowling, sprinted out the back door to his left, finally got the corner on the opposite side of the field and raced up the left sideline and inside the pylon at the front corner of the end zone for the touchdown.

With 23 second left in the game Wayne Hills was staring at its second straight loss in a state final after having won five in a row from 2004-08. Eighteen seconds later, the Patriots were in a pile in the end zone celebrating what would become a classic 24-21 win.

Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn didn’t see it as such.

Brian Dowling scored two TDs and made the pitch on the fateful kickoff return that gave Wayne Hills the win.

“A classic for who? For them? It’s a nightmare for us. It’s not a classic for us,” said Dunn, who saw the final play a little differently then those celebrating on the other sideline. “Their kid made a great play, but the play should have been whistled dead. He was getting run five yards backwards and our kids all said there were whistles blowing on the field. I don’t know what else to say about it.”

Here’s what Dowling had to say about it.

“It wasn’t designed. It was one of those things where you almost play backyard football. Andrew Monaghan was the one who came up with the idea. He said we had no timeouts left and we had to pitch the ball back,” said Dowling, Wayne Hills’ standout senior running back. “I heard Troy [Zaffino] calling my initials, ‘B.D., B.D.’ He is a great athlete and anytime he has the ball in his hands he has a chance to score. I gave him the pitch and he did the rest.”

While the game was decided by THE kickoff return, how it got there is also worth mentioning as Wayne Hills didn’t look like it was going to need any last second heroics through the first half and beyond. The Patriots sold out to stop Old Tappan quarterback Devin Fuller and did a solid job in the first half for all but the final three minutes of the second quarter.

Keith Rodman breaking free for a 17-yard TD.

Old Tappan’s first four possessions ended with two turnovers and two punts as Wayne Hills opened a 14-0 lead courtesy of two short Dowling runs. He scored from three yards away with 8:24 left in the second quarter for the game’s first points and added a 6-yard run out of the Wildcat formation less than two minutes later. A fumble set the Patriots up at the Old Tappan 7 and Dowling cashed in one snap after the ball was moved back from inside the 1 courtesy of a false start.

On its final drive of the first half, Old Tappan finally got its offense moving as Fuller hit Drew Martinez for a 12-yard gain on a third-and-7 and then hit Jeff Pinelli, who made a stellar catch in traffic, for 41 yards to set up Fuller’s own 15-yard TD scramble. Joey Rizzo’s extra point got the Knights to within 14-7 with 35 seconds to go in the second quarter, but again kickoff strategy and coverage cost them some points.

Monaghan’s 30-yard return of a pooch kick gave the Patriots the field position to press forward and Dowling’s 14-yard run put them in OT territory. Sophomore Kevin Olsen then hit Zaffino for a 51-yard gain up the left sideline. Mike Driesse made a 26-yard field goal with :02 left in the first half to give Wayne Hills a 17-7 lead and the score stayed that way through the third quarter and for the first three-plus minutes of the fourth.

Kevin Olsen helped lead Wayne Hills to its 6th state title in the last 7 years.

With its season on the line facing a fourth down from just inside midfield, Old Tappan got the first key play of its comeback when Drew Martinez made a brilliant one-handed grab of a pass thrown behind him over the middle to move the chains. On the next snap, junior Keith Rodman broke through the middle and scored from 17 yards out as the Knights pulled to within 17-14 with 8:30 left in the game.

The defense held, but a mistake on the punt return, a personal foul call, moved the Knights back to their own 10, 90 yards away from a go-ahead score with 5:21 left and two time outs in their pocket. But Old Tappan could barely have played its final drive any better, getting key plays as it moved up the field methodically and worked the clock.

Rodman carried four times for 22 yards, Martinez had a 29-yard catch and run and Fuller picked up 6.1 yards on a fourth-and-6 and got out of bounds at the Wayne Hills 40 with 1:54 to play. Pinelli converted a third-and-1 on a jet sweep that went for nine yards and, three plays later, Fuller found Martinez alone in the middle of the field for the TD that put Old Tappan up 21-17 and just 23 seconds away from its first state title in 25 years.

OT QB Devin Fuller threw for a TD and ran for another.

“That’s the type of kids we have. They are high-character kids, they are tough kids. We had injuries coming in, we had three sophomores on the field playing their butts off and kids stepped up that haven’t played all year playing in the second half,” said Dunn. “I am proud of them, proud of everybody out there for the effort they gave.”

But Old Tappan’s only lead of the game lasted only 15 seconds and it was the coach on the other sideline who could hand out congratulations to his players, not just pats on the back and encouraging words.

“It was a great championship game between two good teams and we are just fortunate to win. I feel so good for these kids who worked so hard and fought right down to the final second to win it,” said Chris Olsen, who has led his teams to the state title game in 14 of the last 17 years and has won six of the last seven North 1, Group 3 state titles. “We plan on being here every year and I plan on, one year from now, being back here again.”

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