White Plains Loses 34-33 to Scarsdale in Overtime Thriller
It was an exciting second half of football that had a very unfortunate and painful ending for the White Plains Tigers. They lost to the Scarsdale Raiders in overtime by the score of 34-33.
This game was decided on the final play of the game. In overtime each team gets the ball at the 20-yard line and gets a chance to score. The Tigers won the overtime coin toss and elected to play defense first.
The Raiders scored on their second play from scrimmage when quarterback Andrew Verboys Jr. ran the ball through the Tigers defense from seven-yards away for a touchdown.
Now it was the Tigers turn and they knew what they had to do. Running back Ari Shamery ran the ball twice for five yards. On the next play quarterback Cameron Crabbe passed the ball to wide receiver Matthew Berube for a 14-yard pass play, which set the ball on the one-yard way.
Two plays later Chris Jordan ran the ball in for a touchdown. Now it was decision time for Tigers coach Skip Stevens and his coaching staff. The Tigers had been having trouble with their extra point team in this game.
Over the last two weeks the Tigers have been decimated by injuries. They were down to their second-string long snapper and field goal holder.
Kicker Murilo Rosendo is a very quiet player and he does not get enough appreciation for his kicking skills. He made his first three extra points despite having to kick the ball sideways off the ground because of problems with the long snap in two of the attempts.
Stevens and his coaching staff called a timeout to discuss their options. They decided to go for a two-point conversion and Stevens called for a similar play that they scored the Jordan touchdown on.
This time the play was not as fruitful for the Tigers because when Jordan received the football from Crabbe he was met by a swarm of Raiders’ defenders who stopped him several yards short of the end zone and gave the Raiders the victory.
“It was just a lot of things that happened. We had so many injuries today. We got hurt. Our back-up linebacker got hurt before the game started. So when one of our linebackers got hurt we went with our third or fourth (string linebacker). Then our holder got hurt so we went with our second holder who was our first snapper so we had to go with our second snapper,” said Stevens about the injuries to his team and extra point team.
For the Tigers this game wasn’t lost because of a coach’s decision to go for two points instead of trying an extra point. The deciding factor that hurt the Tigers in this game was tackling.
The Raiders ran and passed the ball all over the field versus the Tigers defense. A minor note in this game was the fact the referee crew turned a blind eye to the continuous Raiders offensive holding on the line of scrimmage. This wasn’t a key factor in the Tigers losing the game but it didn’t help a Tigers defense that is already dealing with several key injures. The Raiders had over 350 yards of total offense in the game.
Despite the loss, this game was filled with outstanding performances by Tigers players. Senior running back Brandon Williams had the best football game of his high school career. He scored two touchdowns in the game and they both came in the third quarter.
With his team down 14-0 early in the third quarter he took a hand off from Crabbe and ran down the left sideline before cutting back across the middle of the field for a touchdown.
On the next Tigers possession he returned a kickoff 95 yards for the Tigers second touchdown of the game. At this point the Tigers were down 17-14. Williams would have to leave the game a few plays later after experiencing severe cramping in his legs.
“We knew that was in Brandon. And we said we were going to try to get him the ball more. We tried to get him the ball more and he really showed what he can do,” said Stevens after the game.
On their next possession the Raiders answered the Tigers offensive surge when running back Robert Plummer scored his second touchdown of the game on a 76-yard run to make it 24-14.
After the Tigers were unable to produce a first down when they got the ball back, the Raiders had another success scoring drive which resulted in a field goal and a 27-14 lead with 10:56 to go in the game.
This was the turning point for Tigers defense and they showed that as a team they’re a resilient bunch of football players.
The Tigers stopped the Raiders offense on a big fourth down play. Five plays later Jordan scored from 12-yards away and the Tigers were only down 27-21.
The Tigers stepped up once again by holding the Raiders offense in check, which allowed the Tigers one more opportunity to score and win the game. Their offense didn’t disappoint when Shamery scored on a 33-yard touchdown. On the extra point attempt the Raiders were able to penetrate through the Tigers’ offensive line and block Rosendo’s kick, which sent the game into overtime.
The Tigers’ next football game is on Saturday afternoon at home versus John Jay – East Fishkill.
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