Birds Of Prey
Burke Capitalizes On Sullivan West’s Miscues To Marshal Class C Semifinal Win; Eagles Move On To Face O’Neill For Title; Joyner’s 85-Yard Punt Return In Second Half Proves To Be The Dagger; Noble Bulldog Season Comes To An Untimely Close
Section Nine Class C Semifinals
John S. Burke Catholic 24, Sullivan West 7
By RICHARD A. ROSS
rross@sportsinsightsny.com
Scenes From Burke's 24-7 Class C Semifinal Win Over Sullivan West; (Clockwise): Burke's Jake Morganstein dives in from the three for Burke's first score, a product of a Sullivan West fumble, one of five Bulldog turnovers on the day. Offensive MVP Matt Press had 12 carries for 103 yards that included a 67-yard TD run as he broke Bulldog tackles. Sullivan West's E.J. Franskevicz scores on a one-yard run that capped off a ten play 72-yard drive to cut Burke's lead to 14-7 by the half. Burke's Tom Sullivan congratulates SW's Tom Mootz on a hard-fought effort. One of the Bulldog signs adorning the fence, a visual treat and one that hoped to spark the Dawgs' ferociousness. Defensive MVP Mike Cappadora had ten tackles and a fumble recovery that set up the first Burke TD. Tom Mootz nearly scores but was ruled to have stepped out at the two. Three plays later Franskevicz carried it in. Matt Press races across the end zone after his 67 yard TD Run.
MIDDLETOWN, NY—It’s a thrill to make it to the playoffs and that accomplishment brings with it a great sense of euphoria. The memories of the smiles, hugs and tears of joy following Sullivan West’s one-point OT playoff berth-clinching win over Liberty represent just such a case in point.
But once you’re in, it’s time to prepare for the greater test of playoff football and to vie for that rare opportunity, a chance to play for a Sectional championship.
With a look of seriousness and determination, Sullivan West's Todd Roeder and E.J. Franskevicz lead the Bulldogs out of the locker room and onto the field.
When push comes to shove, getting to the playoff is only half the fun . When teams exit that locker room to enter the big stage of playoff football, it’s all about trying to win and advance.
By day’s end on a lovely October 28, on the eve of an October blizzard bearing down on the region with unseasonal severity, it would be either Sullivan West or Burke that was going to be in a state of ecstasy by dint of having earned the right to advance to the Class C title game on November 4.
In stark contrast, the other team would be left to confront the end of its season, and for its seniors, the untimely end to their high school gridiron careers.
For kids whose lives are inextricably intertwined with playing sports in school, such an end is bound to bring on a case of the blues.
Into every life some rain must fall. And as it would turn out, a downpour would fall on the Sullivan West Bulldogs whose combination of miscues and inability to muster much sustained offense against Burke would lead to their demise, a somber exit from Faller Field and the terminus of their noble 2011 football campaign they had worked so assiduously to preserve.
Speaking of blues, though not those of melancholia, Navy blue clad John S. Burke and Caroline blue (and white)Sullivan West were about to stage a rematch of last week’s non-league game won late by Burke 14-7.
Come this winter expect Burke junior Patrick Joyner to add his skills to the hardwood, but it's fall now and this 85-yard punt return for Burke's third score of the day was a killer.
The rivalry between the two schools is keen and ripples throughout all three sports seasons.
From the Sullivan West perspective, any encounter with the school that has made a practice of one-upping them more often than not is always an occasion for banter about the school they love to loathe.
What better payback for past wounds would there be than beating them on the gridiron?
The prospect of such had revived Bulldog swagger. As the sign read on the fence, “Swag Never Sleeps.”.
Arriving in a bus that had a banner saying,” Burke, your season ends today,” and issuing forth from the locker room under gorgeous artistic signs that bespoke Bulldog adoration, Sullivan West looked to build on its highly competitive game with Burke the week before.
Feeling confident that they could stop Burke on the ground and having worked on their pass defense during the week while blending in some new offensive wrinkles, coaches and players looked upon the coming game with an optimistic eye.
But Burke wasn’t idling away this past week.
Zeroing in on stopping Tom Mootz, E.J. Franskevicz and Sawyer Erlwein represented priority one on defense. Fly to the ball, tackle hard and disrupt the Westies’ flow was their mantra. And in addition, use the stalwart leg of kicker Andrew Nutt to force the Bulldogs to reckon with a long field.
Sullivan West junior Sawyer Erlwein will be back next season with his grit and his great open field running.
Those were some of the precepts the Eagles had in mind. Offensively, they looked to maintain blocks and pound away at Sullivan West’s D-line.
And when the time was right, they looked to unleash the speed of junior Patrick Joyner as an adjuct to the hard-running prowess of Jake Morganstein, Mat Cino, Tom Sullivan and Matt Press.
That Burke junior quarterback Robert Pezzullo was now on crutches from an ankle injury suffered during the week, meant that the Eagles were going to need Sullivan to call the signals despite his having taken precious few reps during this past week to prepare for such.
Sullivan’s switch from receiver to quarterback meant one less agile and quick flying Eagle to cover on passing routes. Burke did a lot of its damage in the air in the first match up.
This figured to be a battle royale and it certainly started out that way as neither team was able to marshal a first down as defenses proved pre-eminent early on.
Burke won the toss and elected to receive and Kitt Borowski got ready to boot it away for the Bulldogs. Joyner received the kickoff and returned it to the 33. Burke began with a delay of game penalty which helped to doom their first series as Sullivan West’s defense looked up to the task forcing a three and out.
Andrew Nutt impacted the game mightily with his kicking by pinning Sullivan West deep. He hit all three PAT's and also kicked a field goal.
Nutt’s punt reached E.J. Franskevicz one second before Joyner arrived to forestall a return. The Dawgs began on the 27. Burke’s defense was aggressive and quick and the Westies soon punted it back.
Franskevicz kicked it out of bounds and the Eagles got good position at the Westies’ 46. Press had a nine yard gain but illegal procedure and an incomplete pass intended for Cino.
Burke tried a fake punt, a novelty they’d worked on all week but Sullivan nixed it giving them the Westies the ball at their own 45.
That advantage was immediately squandered as an option pass thrown by Jared Meola was picked off by Cino as the Eagles took over on their own 40.
With seven minutes gone by, the first down drought continued as Westies Andrew Parsons, E.J. Franskevicz and Mootz tackled with ferocity and Burke was forced to punt.
Nutt’s punt pinned the Westies on the eight-yard line. After a handoff to Erlwein that went just one yard, a Franksevicz pitch resulted in a fumble recovered by Mike Cappadora.
Morganstein carried it in from the three at 2:55 for the 6-0 lead and Nutt added the PAT to make it 7-0.
Burke seemed suddenly energized after capitalizing on its second takeaway after having squandered the first chance that had resulted from the interception.. Sullivan West needed to regain its swagger and put the miscues in the rearview mirror.
Erlwein returned it to the Westies’s 23. The Westies came up one yard shy of converting a first down and punted. The Eagles got it at their 24. Cino gained seven. The quarter ended with Burke facing a third and one at their own 33.
On the first play of the second quarter Sullivan West allowed Press to break tackles that had stopped his progress . He bolted outside picking up blockers and ran 67 yards for the score to make it 13-0 at 11:42. Nutt added the PAT and the Eagles were soaring.
Sullivan West had seen enough. They summoned their will and went on a ten play 72-yard drive capped off by a fourth down one-yard Franskevicz run to make it 14-6 . Borowski’s PAT made it 14-7. The drive had awakened the Bulldog fans who cheered for great runs by Mootz, Franksevicz and the meandering Erlwein.
Sullivan West's Kitt Borowski and Chris Lang prevent Jake Morganstein from scoring with a great defensive stop.
The score came at 6:20.
Burke looked to answer back. They converted a first down with a pass to Joyner. The drive continued into Westie territory but stalled at the 48 when they punted.
Nutt pinned SW back on the 11 with another gem of a punt and Burke’s defense looked to keep them right there. The Dawgs went three and out and punted from their own 17. Morganstein returned it to the Westies’ 45. Burke hurried to score before the half but that intention was quashed by a Franskevicz interception with 13.8 seconds remaining in the half. .
The Dawgs took a knee, satisfied to go into the half down by a TD and set to receive the ball to start the second half.
Nutt’s kickoff was returned by Jared Meola out to the Sullivan West 46 to give the Dawgs good position A 15-yard penalty moved the Dawgs back to the 31. That ruined the drive and set up a punt. Burke had no success on its first series as Press was drilled by Erlwein on a failed attempt to convert on a screen pass.
Erlwein received the punt and had nor return as Joyner met him at the SW 30. A Sullivan West fumble by Mootz was recovered by Burke’s Spiro Nanakos for Eagles’ third takeaway of the day.
The Eagles now had the ball on the SW 21.But the Eagles weren’t able to capitalize on the gift. A motion penalty, good Sullivan West tackling and another Burke motion penalty led to a third and 16 on their own 27. A third penalty in the series meant another five yards. Facing a fourth and 11 at the 22, Nutt’s field goal was no good and the Dawgs got it back again having dodged a bullet.
E.J. Franskevicz has a fine run about to be stopped by Steve Tomaszewski and Mike Cappadora.
Beginning from their own 20 and looked to be on the quick march . The Dawgs converted a third down but the advance stopped short of midfield and the Dawgs punted. Joyner hauled it in on the 15 and broke at least two tackles to ferret it 85 yards to the end zone at 1:01 of the third quarter or the 21-7 lead after Nutt’s PAT.
Psychologically, was a damaging blow for the Bulldogs as they faced a third and seven on as the quarter ended. Mootz carried for a first down out to the Westies’ 46 and then another into Burke territory. A third and nine pass intended for Borowski was tipped and the Dawgs were facing a fourth down.
Then the Bulldogs fumbled it again, their fourth giveaway of the day. This one was recovered by Trevor Reynolds with just 7:50 remaining in the game on the Burke 46. “We need first downs, barked Burke Coach Ed Van Curen, Jr. “Chew it up. Chew it up,” he called.
The Westies would get another crack at it as Nutt punted. The Dawgs got it back with a little more than five minutes left as they were once again back inside their own 20. Two incomplete passes led to a punt that he barely got off behind a fumbled snap.
The short punt positioned Burke in good field position. Nutt would add a field goal from the 25- yard line at 3:19 to make it 24-7. A final interception by Steve Tomaszewski would ice the game with Burke’s fifth and final takeaway. The clock soon ran out on the game and on Sullivan West’s season.
Burke senior linebacker Mike Cappadora was named the Most Valuable Defensive Player with his ten tackles and fumble recovery that set up the Eagles’ first TD.
Matt Press was honored as the Most Valuable Offensive Player for his 12 carries for 103 yards and a TD.
Van Curen said, “We talked about winning all three sides of the football game. That’s been our mantra every year. We had a quarterback change this week and we wanted to make sure we picked up some slack on the defensive side and on special teams too.”
Burke's Mat Cino brings down Sawyer Erlwein. Burke's great defense stymied Sullivan West's attempts to sustain any consistent offense.
“They’re a great team. They’re well coached and hardnosed. Their tough kids to play and there’s no quit in them ,” he said in praise of Sullivan West.
Referencing Joyner’s speedy runback, he noted, “He’s got some speed in him. This is his first year of playing football and learning our system.”
Mootz was visibly upset by the loss but kept his head up nonetheless. “At half time I kind of thought we had it in the bag and we came to this game with a new offense that we hadn’t shown anybody else but we just got shut down with it. We went back to our old offense and they shut us down. They’re a great team,” he offered.
“We all tried our hardest…we tried our best,” he concluded.
It would be hard to put into words the praise which Mootz deserves for his tireless efforts and he is by no means alone. The team had its share of exemplary play this year from many individuals and collectively speaking.
.Congratulations to the seniors that include E.J. Franskevicz, Kitt Borowski, Ben Kline, Thomas Mootz, Chris Lange, Andrew Parsons, Todd Roeder and Zach O’Connor.
Coach Ron Bauer put it succinctly. “Turnovers and they controlled the line of scrimmage,” he noted. “We fumbled the ball. We had a couple of drives but their line was tough. I thought we played pretty good defense,” he noted.
Stat line: Sullivan West:
Rushing: Franskevicz 14/53 with one TD; Borowski 3/6; Mootz 17/61; Erlwein 4/31.
Passing: Franskevicz 2/9/36.
Receiving: Mootz 1/18; Erlwein 1/18
Defense: Erlwein 11 tackles; Mootz 8 tackles; Parsons 7 tackles; Franskevicz 2 tackles and an interception.
Burke, the state’s seventh –ranked Class C team improved to 9-0. They will face O’Neill (7-2) in the title game at Dietz Stadium on November 4 at 3:00pm. Sullivan West ended its season at 5-4.
Final Statistics for 2011:
Rushing: Franskevicz 99/504; Borowski 32/114; Mootz 126/827 (avg 6.56 yards per carry) with 12 TD’s; Erlwein 16/80 (5.o yards per carry); Jared Meola 32/162.
Passing: Franskevicz 31/89/458/ Six TD’s and seven interceptions;
Defense: Mootz 125 Tackles; Erlwein 103 Tackles; Scott Erdman 81 Tackles and three sacks; Todd Roeder 37 tackles and two sacks; Andrew Parsons 76 tackles and one sack.
Sullivan West total rushing: 319/1716 averaging 5.18 yards per carry.
For an album of photos, visit www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com
