Defense wins championships and — in Erasmus Hall’s case, championship berths.
The No. 2 Dutchmen football team forced a game-saving fumble and recovered the ball in the end zone with just seconds on the clock to wrap up a 27–26 victory over fifth-seeded Lincoln in the Public Schools Athletic League city semifinal on Nov. 26.
It’s the third-straight championship appearance for Erasmus Hall, and this year’s Dutchmen squad was flying high after booking its ticket to the Bronx.
“We got it. That’s it,” said senior CJ Pauyo. “Yankee Stadium, here we come.”
It was an emotional victory for the Dutchmen (10–1) which trailed 26–14 heading into the fourth quarter. Erasmus Hall refused to back down, however, and the Dutchmen squad kept its collective focus on the sideline throughout the game.
The Dutchmen’s defense didn’t just wrap up the victory by preventing a touchdown — it also helped set up the game-winning score.
Erasmus Hall turned the ball over on downs with just over three minutes left in regulation — after Aron Cruickshank was ruled down in the backfield — but Pauyo gave his squad another chance on the next play, recovering an Anthony Khan fumble at the Lincoln 33 yard line.
“I saw [the ball] on the floor, and I just thought ‘I’ve got to get that. I’ve got to get the ball,’ ” Pauyo said. “I recovered it and I was just trying to get out.”
Cruickshank made good use of the opportunity, ripping off a pair of runs, including a five-yard scamper for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:25 left. It was the junior quarterback’s fourth touchdown of the day — he also threw for three other scores.
“I just had to score,” Cruickshank said. “It was supposed to go to the left side, but I saw something in the defense and I just knew I had to go right. It worked out.”
The Railsplitters (8–4) hardly blinked after Cruickshank’s touchdown run, settling back into an offense that controlled the game’s tempo through much of the afternoon. Lincoln marched back down the field with ease, led by senior quarterback Faruq Shittu, who finished with three touchdown passes.
Shittu took a second-down snap on the 15 yard line with just under a minute left and saw a wide-open lane into the end zone, but lost the ball as he tried to stretch out to score. Officials ruled Shockuone Bobbitt recovered the ball, and Lincoln’s title hopes were dashed.
“[Shittu] was trying to make a play at the end,” Railsplitters coach Shawn O’Connor said. “It’s who makes the least amount of mistakes. We made more of them today.”
Erasmus Hall will take on top-seeded Curtis in the title tilt on Dec. 2 — a rematch of a regular–season game that saw the Dutchmen squander a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
This team isn’t worried. After all, if the Dutchmen can survive a semifinal game like this, the squad is positive it can accomplish just about anything.
“We’ve had a couple of bad-luck situations in those games in the past, but we have to do things the right way,” Landberg said. “And we expect good things to happen.”
Curtis 24, Grand St. 13
The title defense is over.
Grand Street gave up a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, unable to keep Curtis’ potent offense contained down the stretch in the Public Schools Athletic League semifinal matchup on Nov. 26.
The Wolves squad (7–5) did its best to control the top-seeded Warriors but missed a handful of key scoring chances early and failed to put the game away late. Curtis (11–0) quarterback Quincy Barnes found Amad Anderson for a 41-yard touchdown strike with 8:41 left on the clock to take a lead that the squad would never again surrender.
A pair of Grand Street drives stalled early in the game as Curtis jumped out to a 10-point cushion in the first half, but the Wolves refused to go down with a fight. Darius Thompson’s one-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter got the squad on the board. He followed up with a 16-yard touchdown run on the next possession, giving the Wolves a 13–10 lead with 9:05 to play.
Grand Street’s defense sputtered late, however, unable to hold the lead as Barnes and Amad hit their stride, finding the end zone just 50 seconds after the Wolves took the lead. A Chris Mattocks interception set up the Warriors final touchdown — a three-yard Anderson reception. The Wolves turned the ball over four times in the semifinal loss, coming up just short of a return trip to Yankee Stadium.
