Football

‘C’ change

Ellenville’s overwhelming first half shocks valiant Sullivan West

By RICHARD A. ROSS

KINGSTON, NY — Give the Devils their due.

The Ellenville Blue Devils, that is, whose stunning 34-20 Class C title win on November 8 over the previously unbeaten, state-ranked Bulldogs shocked those who expected Sullivan West to recapture the trophy it lost to Tri-Valley a year ago.

How the Blue Devils made the powerful Westies, their ninth consecutive and most sought-after victim on the way to their trident triumph, is a story unto itself.

So, too, is Sullivan West’s valiant second-half comeback attempt, another mark of character for a team perfect until this loss.

But by game’s end, despite evincing mettle and shedding blood, sweat and, finally, tears, noble efforts were too little and too late for the Dawgs to overcome the tsunami that Ellenville had unleashed from its opening snap to halftime, wherein they led 26-6, well on the way to their first title since 1993.

Ellenville’s opening seven-yard carry by Donald Exner began an Ellenville firestorm that resulted in TDs on its first four possessions. The return of senior QB Sebastian Constable from a recent appendectomy provided the Blue Devils with a moral lift.

But Ellenville knew it had to neutralize Sullivan West’s multi-talented arsenal, especially its weapon of mass destruction, Brad Reimer.

Schooled by hours of watching films of their opponents, Ellenville’s defense broke down Sullivan West’s successful spread offense by blunting what coach Tony Borriello described as “the four things they want to do.”

First and foremost, they contained Reimer’s freelance running.

Reimer ran wild in the season opener, but this time the rampaging Blue Devils invaded the Bulldogs’ backfield consigning him to negative yardage. Ellenville effectively disrupted Sullivan West receivers in the secondary, thereby delaying Reimer’s reads, a quarterback’s quick scan for open receivers. “We knew if he had to make late decisions, we should be able to get on top of him,” Borriello said.

With Ellenville’s advantage on the line of scrimmage, getting to Reimer became the order of the day, while opening up traffic lanes for Exner (23/150 with two TDs) and Offensive Player of the Game Eric Thayer (21/162 with three TDs and two PAT runs) forged a double-edged sword that nearly cut the Dawgs in two.

The Bulldogs staunched the bleeding with a second-half surge of their own, but the blood-letting from the first half proved to be fatal.

Since their opening night encounter, won by Sullivan West 41-19, neither team had lost a game. Each dispatched opponents with fearsome execution and unity of purpose. Sullivan West received the lion’s share of attention for its 9-0 season and recapture of the division title from Tri-Valley, while the division newcomer was content to keep a lower profile, ever eyeing its redemptive rematch with the team they wished they had beaten on September 5.

In his debut, Reimer ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more. West’s fearsome defense held Exner to a pair of TDs and a relatively lean night of rushing, as compared to his eventual second-best Section Nine rushing status. Boriello’s squads had never beaten SW and the drought continued.

As both Class C behemoths’ successes mounted, the stars aligned for their title tilt.

Each readily dispatched playoff opponents a week ago. Ellenville smashed Millbrook 56-13 and Sullivan West sent Tri-Valley packing 46-6.

Thus the stage was set for a football slugfest reminiscent of Ali versus Frazier.

But by night’s end, in a scene defined by the starkly opposite emotions of Ellenville’s cheers and Sullivan West’s tears, the enormity of what had just taken place began to sink in.

Numbers tell the tale from the bookend games of the season.

In the opener, Reimer rushed 19/180 with three TDs. This time, he was 12/-26 with no TDs. In the opener, Reimer’s passing line was 19/186 with two TDs. This time, he was 10/13/111 with one TD and one interception.

Ellenville’s running attack burgeoned from a game one mix of gains, sporadic fumbles and lackluster execution into a staggering 340 yards in the title game.

Sullivan West knew that ground assault was in the offing. They simply could not stop it.

Ellenville received and took only six plays and just over three minutes to march 68 yards as Thayer tore off a tackle with a 33-yard TD run at 8:48. The Bulldogs held Exner out on the conversion run.

Ellenville then honed in on kickoff receiver Dan Figueroa like angry bees. They had seen his TD return against Tri-Valley.

The Dawgs went three and out, and Manolatii Rabii’s punt gave Ellenville a short field at its own 49.

Blowing Sullivan West off the line of scrimmage, Ellenville used nine straight running plays, ending with Exner’s six-yarder, to make it 12-0 at 1:57. A pass for the PAT conversion was broken up.

With two rookies in its secondary, Ellenville wasn’t without chinks in its armor. A vintage Reimer-to-Figueroa pass exploited that for a 57-yard strike to make it 12-6 with 20 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Artie Norden’s PAT was partially blocked, but the large Bulldog crowd cheered mightily for what they imagined was the coming resurgence of their heroes.

A seemingly possessed Exner broke tackles before Thayer tore off 20 yards for Ellenville’s third score at 9:56 of the second quarter. Thayer ran in the two-point conversion and Ellenville now led a 20-6.

Stymied again, the Dawgs punted. Rabii’s kick glanced off a Blue Devil and a player from each team pounced on the ball. But joint possession was correctly ruled in favor of receiving Ellenville, which marshaled the possession into another score, as Exner took it in from the 11 at 4:23. The Dawgs barred his conversion run, but the lead had widened to 26-6.

The Bulldogs vowed to not let their season end thusly and, as the half waned, they fought to get a score as a prelim to receiving the ball in the second half.

Inspired runs by Figueroa, Nick Mootz and Reimer advanced the ball. A late hit by Thayer gave the Westies a first and goal at the nine with 1:20 to go. But Ellenville sacked Reimer and a pair of passes led to a fourth down. Blue Devils’ sacked Reimer to punctuate their first-half mastery.

Reimer returned the second-half kickoff to the Ellenville 36, but the trident troupe stiffened. Mootz was stopped and Reimer was sacked. A delay-of-game penalty led to a punt but a roughing-the-kicker call gave the Bulldogs extended life. After receiving a short pass, Figueroa broke tackles, carrying it to the 14.

Mootz ran it in from there at 7:57 to make it 26-12. Norden’s PAT run was stopped but the Dawgs still hoped to reverse the flow.

After a stop, they took over on downs with 2:58 remaining in the quarter. Figueroa was one block shy of scoring after a 12-yard run. A Mootz advance was undercut by a holding penalty and then Thayer sacked Reimer again.

Then, a hurried Reimer threw a pass to Norden that was picked off by Constable at the Ellenville 23.

Ellenville ate up the clock. With nine minutes left in the game and down by two scores, the Bulldogs desperately faked a punt, snapping the ball to Reimer instead of Rabii. Ellenville corralled him in the backfield.

The noose tightened with Thayer’s one-yard TD at 4:05 and his two-point conversion to make it 34-12.

But the valiant Dawgs refused to go quietly into the night.

Figueroa uncorked a 40-yard option pass to Reimer and Mootz carried it in from the six for the final touchdown of his uplifting career.

Schmidt’s conversion made it 34-20. Ellenville recovered an onsides kick and the rest is history.

With tears streaming down their faces, Sullivan West players stood on the hash mark, while a beaming Ellenville crew stood opposite. Figueroa was awarded the Defensive Player of the Game, Thayer, the Offensive Player of the Game and the championship trophy was held aloft by the enlivened entourage of Ellenville warriors.

Soon thereafter, a muted Sullivan West huddle was marked by occasional sobs, particularly from seniors who never dreamed it could end this way.

Assistant coach Norm Bauer told his battered troops, “You became the best of friends, allies in war and you played a heck of a second half. If you played that way in the first half, the game goes the opposite way. For those seniors who are leaving I’m sorry to see you go. I know it’s hard for you. But for you juniors, sophomores and freshmen, you have to make sure that this can never happen again.”

Exhorting his returning players to lift weights, train hard and run in the off season, head coach Ron Bauer complimented his squad on the second-half effort.

“But you’ve got to play one-hundred percent on every play for 48 minutes. They controlled the line of scrimmage,” noted Bauer. “We were outweighed at a lot of positions and we need to get stronger.”

Borriello credited his front four. “We run at you. If you can’t stop us, we’re going to control the clock and put it in the end zone.”

Sounds simple, but it took a tremendous effort, late nights of practice, bruising contact and a great will to accomplish.

When all is said and done, you’ve got to give the Devils their due.

Enormous kudos goes to Sullivan West seniors Brad Reimer, Nick Mootz, Dan Figueroa, Tyler Wagner, Mike Pomes, Chris Wagner and John Whittaker for their inspiring play and their historic undefeated league season.

Ellenville (9-1) will face Croton-Harmon in Mahopac on November 14. Sullivan West finished at 9-1.

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