Battling South Shore and the clock

Late heroics gave Knights a shot at victory, but time was their toughest opponent

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If you talk long enough with John F. Kennedy Campus head football coach Augie Tieri about his team, it’s not long before the words “resiliency” and “tenacity” join the conversation. For a Knights team that has had to deal with its share of adversity to start the season, with long-time head coach Andy Lancberg being forced to step away from the team to deal with some personal matters, the one thing this team has shown it has a deep supply of is resilience.

And the Knights were going to have to tap into that deep reservoir when they hosted a formidable South Shore team from Brooklyn last Friday night. The game presented a prime opportunity for the Knights to vanquish the bitter taste of a heartbreaking, last-second, two-point loss to Brooklyn Tech the previous week as well as a chance to pick up their second victory of the year while playing in front of a home crowd for the first time this season.

So with South Shore holding a four-point lead and with Kennedy quarterback P.J. Franklyn driving the Knights down the field for a potential game-winning touchdown as the final seconds were ticking off the game clock, you got the feeling that the Hollywood ending Kennedy needed was about to play out.

One last shot

A third-and-10 play from South Shore’s 46-yard line turned into a first-and-10 at the 31 after Franklyn connected with Tyreek Noble on a 15-yard pass to keep the dream alive. Then after a South Shore sack of Franklyn put the ball on the 33-yard line, and with the seconds continuing their march toward zero, Franklyn again came through in the clutch as he teamed with Andrew Thomas on a 20-yard pass completion to get the Knights to the South Shore 13-yard line. The Knight bolted down the field to line up for another play and another shot at pulling out a dramatic victory as the Vikings’ defense was most definitely back on its heels.

But with the partisan Kennedy crowd roaring as the Knights lined up for their last shot, the one opponent they could not overcome on the final drive was time, and before Kennedy could get off what potentially could have been a game-winning play, the game clock hit 0:00 and for a second straight week the Knights were left to deal with a heartbreaking loss as South Shore held off the Knights frantic rally and held on for a 24-20 victory at Kennedy’s Jerry Horowitz Field.

The loss dropped Kennedy to 1-2 on the season while South Shore improved to 2-1.        

“This is one of the hardest losses for us because we look at these games as playoff games,” said Kennedy senior Chizurum Umunakwe, a two-way stud at fullback and linebacker for the Knights. “It’s win or go home. Now these next two games we have to win. We had home advantage and we came out and we were ready to roll. We wanted this win very bad, everybody did. We just ran out of time.”

For Franklyn, who was valiant in defeat, the loss was personal as being a senior means this is his last shot at reaching the Public School Athletic League (PSAL) playoffs come November.

“This one was really frustrating. For me, I hate losing. That’s not how I grew up,” Franklyn said. “I grew up with a winning record all the time. I take losing personally. I’m a senior so every loss hurts that much more. Every day when I step on this field for practice, I look at it as my last day.”

After the two teams played to a 12-12 tie at halftime, South Shore jumped out in front with an 18-12 lead after senior quarterback Jason Martin scored on a two-yard run with 2:28 remaining in the third quarter. That scoring drive was set up by a gamble by Tieri, who decided to roll the dice and go for a first down rather than punt when the Knights were faced with a fourth down-and-one from their own 36 yard line. South Shore’s defense forced Franklyn to throw an incomplete pass on the play and the Vikings took over possession deep in Kennedy territory. Four plays later, Martin ran it in and the Vikings had their six-point lead.

Risky call

“I felt like we had momentum going. It was definitely a risky call but I honestly felt either I was going to have confidence in my defense or, if they didn’t stop them, they would score quickly enough so that we would get the ball back and do exactly what we did, which was get down the field and score and take the lead,” Tieri said. “I have a tendency at times to gamble, maybe it’s overconfidence or maybe it’s stupidity. Nonetheless I have a lot of confidence in my boys and I felt like we could get a yard at any time.”

Kennedy did, indeed, score on its very next possession as Umunakwe went around right end and scored on a 41-yard gallop. When Franklyn added the two-point conversion run, Kennedy had a 20-18 lead with 46 seconds left in the third quarter which set the stage for a very entertaining fourth period.

On South Shore’s next possession, the Vikings found themselves staring down a daunting third down-and-22 situation as the game clock closed in on the 4:00 mark. A defensive stop here by Kennedy would have forced the Vikings into a critical fourth down decision of whether to punt and hope to get the ball back, or go for a first down to sustain their final drive. But the Vikings made no fourth-down decision necessary as Martin connected with Sidney Jackson on a screen pass that turned into a 29-yard gain, bringing the Vikings to the Knights’ 13-yard line. It set up the go-ahead touchdown which came just three plays later when Martin scored on a three-yard touchdown run for a 24-20 lead with 1:53 to play.

“We had to stop them there. That’s when the men come out and you just got to be tough and stop them,” Umunakwe said. “But we didn’t show that. We got to get better.”

While he was disappointed his defense couldn’t come up with the key stop, Tieri had nothing but praise for Martin’s play Friday night.

“Ultimately we needed to get a stop there and we didn’t get it,” Tieri lamented. “But he’s a Division I quarterback in my eyes. I definitely see Division I potential in him. What he does for that offense is phenomenal and he’s been their guy for the last three years. That is a very good team and they have one of the very best quarterbacks in New York City if not the best quarterback in New York City.”

But credit the Knights for not folding their tents there as Franklyn led Kennedy on a spirited last-gasp drive that ultimately fell 13 yards and a few seconds short.

“We just ran out of time. That’s two tough losses in a row but it also shows our toughness and tenacity and I feel like these are two losses that we are going to learn a lot from,” Tieri said. “And I feel very confident, as I told the team, that we are going to rebound from this and do very well down the stretch.”

Post-game pow-wow

After the a game, as the Knights huddled in the end zone for a postgame talk with Tieri, Umunakwe, one of the team captains, gave a spirited speech to his teammates after falling short for a second straight week. It was his way of lighting a fire under the Knights as they prepare for Saturday’s trip out to Staten Island to face Port Richmond.

“I was getting them motivated,” Umunakwe said. “Some of them had their heads down, some of them were tearing up so I was telling them that they got to be men. There’s none of that. Crying is for little girls. This is a man’s sport. You got to tough it up and get ready for next week because I don’t want lose anymore. This is the last loss I want this season. No more ‘Ls.” I want to win.”

Kennedy will play its next two games on the road, which will make four of its first five contests being away from home. But that stretch will be followed by one which sees the Knights play three straight at home before the regular-season finale at rival Clinton. So is there still time for the Knights to right their ship?

“I believe in this team, I truly do,” Umunakwe said. “We have the talent, we have the skill and we have the players. Next week is going to be different, I’m telling you.”

Franklyn echoed Umunakwe, saying, “I really believe in this team. This team has fought through a lot of adversity. We’ve all fought together and all stood as one.”

Tieri knows Saturday’s encounter with Port Richmond is about as must-win a game as one can have in a Week 4 battle but he firmly believes his team will be ready to rock on Staten Island.  

“Absolutely, one hundred percent,” Tieri said. “Think about how we lost to Brooklyn Tech, losing by two points on the last play of the game. Then to come back and battle the way that we did I think tells you everything you need to know about our mindset and our mental toughness. There are a lot of games left for us and most of them are at home.”

football, Sean Brennan

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