Section Nine Class D Football Championship

Abiding faith

Eldred survives Chester surge, exorcises past demons and recaptures lost Section Nine title

By RICHARD A. ROSS

KINGSTON, NY — It’s one thing to spend an entire year preparing to win the most important game of your life, to practice and sweat and concentrate your collective energy with a unity of purpose.

But it’s another thing to go on when things suddenly go terribly awry, and it looks like all of what you dedicated yourself to accomplishing is about to vanish in an instant.

In short, it’s how we handle ourselves in the face of adversity that ultimately defines us in this life. Eldred passed that test with flying colors this year as its triumphant 20-16 win over Chester in the Class D championship finally exorcised past demons that have haunted the team and its community for a year since its shocking defeat exactly a year and a day prior.

Demons assailed them anew with this year’s 14-13 loss to Chester on a PAT they thought they had that officials belatedly removed.

Preparing, executing and persevering when things fell apart: Eldred did all of that and more in its wild roller-coaster ride that came to an electrifying finish as it defeated Chester on November 4 to earn its second Class D title in three years.

Eldred’s football players have a deep and abiding faith in each other and in their coaches. Before this epic battle was over, they would need to marshal that faith in order to survive a Chester second-half maelstrom of 16 unanswered points that erased Eldred’s 13-0 halftime lead.

Eldred had built that lead with its dominant first-half play, a complete antithesis to its first-half effort in the title game in 2006 when they trailed 14-0 at the half and 20-0 in the third quarter before storming back to nearly win. A stunning interception by Chester’s Darren Mann with Eldred on the Chester one-yard line foiled Eldred’s title repeat effort and gave the trophy to Chester instead.

This year, it would be Chester that would storm back in the second half. But this time out, it would be Eldred that would ultimately prevail.

The Yellowjackets won the toss and elected to place what their defensive coach John LiGrecci refers to as his team’s “bend but not break defense” on the field first. Eldred capitalized on a hot-potato squib kickoff by Bobby Warden that Chester’s JP Hackett had and lost before Eldred’s Cody Conklin landed on it at the Chester 19. Riding the workhorse running of Kevin Prunka, who soon scored on a one-yard run, Eldred added a Warden PAT to garner a 7-0 lead with less than a minute and a half gone in the game.

Chester looked to answer with a relentless drive from its own 15, starting with a 29-yard run by Pat Perry. Quarterback Joe Salthouse hit Joe Munno with a slant pass to the Eldred 34 and Danny Conklin bulled it to the Eldred 20.

Then Eldred’s defense stiffened. Chester’s fourth-down pass for Mann was tipped to Hackett but was ruled incomplete. Eldred took over on downs, evincing the first article of faith in its own resiliency.

Chester’s defense held firm on Eldred’s next series and Eldred did the same as the first quarter ended with the score 7-0. Eldred’s tackles were literally blowing up Chester’s defensive line, allowing Prunka to gain yardage seemingly at will.

Eldred’s Christian Martinez, in for Chris Leader sidelined from an injury in the Livingston Manor/Roscoe game, showed great ability to hit the holes as the march that began at the Eldred 35 soon entered into the red zone. At 7:46, Martinez burst across the goal line and Eldred now led 13-0. Warden’s PAT failed as it hit the upright but suddenly the new scoreboard at Dietz read 13-6. Eldred fans screamed, “not again,” and the error was quickly rectified.

Chester threatened again on its next drive, but Eldred’s brotherhood called up article of faith number two to stave off a tying or go-ahead score. Salthouse keepers fueled a march to the Eldred eight-yard line. On a fourth and three at the eight, Eldred stopped Perry and took over on downs.

“Green Day” seemed an appropriate title for this year’s game as the half arrived, especially with Eldred destined to receive the opening kickoff.

But Chester coach Ron Stover and his crew weren’t happy with that color, so they chose to repaint the canvas in orange and blue. Realigning his offense to thwart Eldred’s stunting defense would prove effective, and Chester quickly squelched Eldred’s initial drive into a feeble three and out. Then they sprung Conklin twice before Hackett got behind Stan Smith and Compasso and caught a Salthouse pass at the one. Salthouse ran it in and Eldred’s lead shrank to 13-8 following Salthouse’s two-point run.

All of this had transpired within three and a half minutes of the third quarter.

Eldred looked to reassert itself but Chester would have none of it. A long pass for Kojo Williams was overthrown and Eldred punted. More cracks in the Eldred armor appeared as Salthouse ran 41 yards up the left sideline to the Eldred 31. Another keeper netted 14 more yards, but Eldred’s defense toughened again.

Salthouse overthrew a pass on a fourth down at the Eldred 29 and the Yellowjackets took over on downs, their faith in each other rewarded again.

Little could they imagine how that faith would be tested. On the second play of the next series, Bryan Henry threw a pass downfield that Chester’s Thomas Shawn snared and returned 55 yards for a touchdown with 53 seconds left in the third quarter. The young quarterback was visibly shaken, but his teammates refused to let him get down, even as he watched a Salthouse conversion run made it 16-13 in Chester’s favor.

The ensuing kickoff gave Eldred the ball at its own 33. A nine-yard run and an injury to center Bobby Moriggia were preludes to the end of the third quarter.

Moriggia heroically played on. After an offsides penalty pressed Eldred into a third and eight at its own 35, Prunka’s Herculean second effort got a much-needed first down. After a five-yard penalty, Eldred coaches played an ace, a 37-yard halfback option pass launched by Compasso to a racing Williams at the Chester 32. Prunka, Martinez and Henry took turns lugging the rock before Compasso took it in from the three with 7:12 to go. Warden’s PAT made it 20-16 in favor of Eldred.

Hoping to keep the ball away from Chester, Eldred coaches opted for another squib kick, but this one went right into the hands of Luis Quiles at midfield, giving Chester less distance to go for the go-ahead score. Salthouse immediately hit Mann with a pass at the six-yard line that Eldred defenders unwisely tried to intercept instead of batting it away, as they had been taught repeatedly to do in practice.

Miraculously, Eldred’s defense held again. A couple of incomplete passes led to a fourth down and a bad snap forced Salthouse to launch a duck intended for Munno that went incomplete.

With 4:42 left, Eldred took over at its own six but could do nothing with the ball and had to punt. That gave Chester the ball at the Eldred 46 with 2:26 remaining.

Now facing perhaps its darkest hour, Eldred resolved to not let history repeat itself. Enter Williams who came up with one of the game’s defining plays, an interception that he would later credit his defensive linemen’s great pass rush.

Eldred stalled again and had to punt with 1:59 in the game. Speedy Mann was thinking to repeat his heroics of a year ago with a stellar return, but he had to reach for the ball and never had a good hold on it as he began to run. Williams laid a wooden hit on him and the ball hit the carpet just as Nick Simonelli alertly pounced on it. A fine carry by Martinez ate up enough clock for Eldred to take a knee and hold on for the win.

“I’m so proud of these boys,” said an emotional and hoarse Kean following the win. “We always have to play up in every game and that was the difference tonight. Our kids never lost their composure because we play tough football,” said the veteran coach.

Kean noted that they had included a couple of special plays in their game plan, including the halfback option.

Kevin Prunka was chosen as the game’s Most Valuable Offensive Player and JP Hackett of Chester won the honors for the Most Valuable Defensive Player.

An emotional Nick Simonelli summed up what the game meant to him and his teammates. “Ever since we lost last year, we’ve been working, lifting in the summer, practicing and practicing all the time for this moment.” Asked about the mindset when Chester took the lead, Simonelli said, “I still had so much faith in this team.”

Prunka said he was “speechless,” but added that while he was concerned about Chester’s comeback, he never lost faith.

“We’re a band of brothers,” said Williams. “This is my team. I love my team.”

Eldred will move on to regional play next Saturday to play Section One’s Haldane at Mahopac High School on November 10. On October 20, Chester beat Haldane 34-21. They’ll play without Henry, who fractured his hand in the Chester game.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of pictures and stats from the game.