Phillips Intercepts Three Passes to Lead the Quakers Past Ossining
win at Ossining.
The Ossining football team learned the hard way that Horace Greeley’s Bo Phillips seems to have a nose for the football.
Phillips, a senior defensive back, intercepted three passes Saturday night, returning two of them for touchdowns, in the Quakers’ 27-13 come-from-behind victory on the road over the upset-minded, but still winless, Pride.
“He’s a leader on defense,” said Greeley coach Tim Sullivan shortly after Phillips had run 59 yards for a game-clinching touchdown following his third pick of the night with three and a half minutes remaining in the contest. “He does an incredible job as a captain and as a player, obviously.”
It was Phillips who had staked the now 3-1 Quakers to a 6-0 lead late in the first quarter when he gathered in a deflected pass from Ossining quarterback Dan Rivie, then cut to his left and outraced everyone along the sideline for a 72-yard touchdown. But on a night when Greeley struggled with miscues, it took more heroics from Phillips, along with two Cameron Ciero touchdown runs, to finally subdue a Pride team that had dropped its first three games.
“That’s Bo Phillips,” said Sullivan, praising a player he’s counted on ever since assuming the helm at Greeley a couple of years ago. “He’s a three-year starter on varsity. He was there three years ago and took the pain (of a 1-7 season). So it’s good to see him (succeed) too.”
Phillips’ first interception came four plays after the Quakers had turned the ball over with a fumble at their own 41-yard line on their second possession of the game. They turned it over again on the last play of the opening quarter as a high pass from Ciero was picked off by Ramon Carvajal near midfield.
But an interception by Shawn Soneja quickly ended the Ossining possession and another Pride threat stalled at the Quakers’ 20-yard line with just over seven minutes remaining in the half. Greeley left the field at halftime clinging to a six-point lead.
The Quakers went three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, then Ossining marched 40 yards to the Greeley 18 on 8 plays. A fumble recovery by linebacker Alex Doolin gave the Quakers the ball at their own 8-yard line. But on first down, Ciero, still getting acclimated with a backup center, fumbled the snap and Ossining recovered the ball. Two plays later, Blake Hoyt ran two yards for a touchdown. His extra point gave the Pride a 7-6 lead with 5:33 left in the quarter.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Sullivan about the slew of Quaker turnovers he witnessed. “I told the guys in the gym before we left the only thing that can hurt us is ourselves. And we tried hard to do that today. It’s a little disheartening.”
The Quakers did respond by then moving the football via the running game all the way from their own 35 down to the Ossining 3-yard line. On second down, Ciero took the ball up the middle right to the goal line. The ball squirted free as he arrived in the end zone. The Pride recovered the ball for a touchback to the dismay of Ciero, who thought he had scored a touchdown.
“You could clearly see that he crossed the goal line,” said Sullivan. “You’ve got to see that as an official because, sure, everybody’s gonna be snapping at the ball once you get across. And that’s what ended up happening.”
The call against the Quakers could have been disastrous, but thanks to fourth-quarter heroics from Ciero and Phillips it wound up not mattering. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Ciero, who finished the evening with 141 yards on the ground, capped a two-minute, five-play drive by romping 37 yards for a touchdown. But for the second time, the PAT kick by Jack Dowd sailed wide and Greeley had to settle for a 12-7 lead.
It took Ossining just 20 seconds to take the lead back. Hoyt broke through the line on first down and raced 70 yards for a Pride touchdown. The two-point try failed when quarterback Rivie slipped and tried throwing as he was falling to the turf. Still, with 7:49 left on the clock, the Quakers found themselves behind 13-12.
“Yeah, complete disbelief that we did everything in our power to try to lose this game tonight,” said Sullivan about the emotions he was feeling before the late-game fireworks that saved the Quakers. “But Cam’s a gamer and I know when I have him that we’re never out of a game.”
A spectacular kickoff return by Ivan Corso, as he crisscrossed the field and took the ball all the way to the Ossining 21-yard line, set the stage for Ciero’s go-ahead touchdown, a three-yard run with 4:17 remaining. Ciero then won a foot race to the right corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion that gave Greeley a 20-13 lead.
Less than a minute later, Phillips dashed the Ossining comeback hopes by intercepting another pass, running along the right sideline and hurdling head first over the goal line for the 59-yard pick six that finally allowed his coaches to relax for the first time all night. Dowd added the extra point, extending the Greeley lead to 14 points.
The third interception by Phillips soon followed, with 2:16 left and just three plays after he had another pick nullified by a roughing-the-passer penalty. Justin Schachter had a 36-yard run in the final moments and the game ended with Ciero taking a knee at the Ossining 37.
“Like I said to the team, they dug deep when they needed to and they overcame all those mistakes and got the victory,” said Sullivan, whose team now has to quickly get ready for Thursday afternoon’s home game against Yorktown.
“It’s a tough week to even prepare for,” he said. “What do you do at this point? It’s gonna be a short week. We’ll do the best we can and we’ll move on from there.”
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
Read more of Andy’s full bio here.
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