Unbeaten Warriors hang on

Class 3A’s third-ranked team edges second-ranked Trojans in a thriller

Zach Benedek did everything he could to put Elizabeth Forward in a position to take over sole possession of the Big East Conference. And it nearly wasn’t enough. Down 18 points on the road, Class 3A No. 2-ranked Derry Area (5-1, 3-1) scored 15 points in 1:26 Friday night and nearly recovered a subsequent onside kick after their final score with 13 seconds left. Instead the Trojans were called for illegally touching the ball before it went 10 yards, and No. 3 Elizabeth Forward (5-0, 4-0) was able to run out the clock and walk off with a 25-22 victory to take over sole possession of first place in the Big East.

“I think it means a lot for our team because it’s the first time EF’s 5-0 and it’s a huge thing for the community and huge thing for our school,” Benedek said. “I think we’re going to be rolling, and everyone is going to want to win more and more and more.” Benedek will have a lot to say about it. The senior starting dual-threat quarterback did it all for Elizabeth Forward as he completed 10 of 19 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown, carried 20 times for 129 and another score and had an 84-yard touchdown run called back because of a penalty.

Though he was able to spark what started out as a stagnant offense on its first possession, it was a play he made on defense that might have turned the tide completely in the Warriors’ favor.

After Elizabeth Forward went threeand-out and lost 4 yards on its first drive, punter Andrew Smith launched a 64-yard punt that rolled to a stop at the Derry 13. On the first play, Benedek broke through and batted a Paul Koontz screen pass that deflected into the arms of linebacker Robert Buchina, who returned it 7 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 1:40 into the game.

“It was an unbelievable play and it was huge for us because it turned the momentum on them and put their back against the wall a little bit, especially being on our home field it was just a huge play,” Elizabeth Forward coach Mike Collodi said. “We preach to them all the time to make plays on defense, and they made one right out of the gate.”

Despite coming back and tying the score on a 53-yard run from Justin Flack, who finished the game with 25 carries for 184 yards, Derry continually took risks that ended up backfiring because of poor execution on fourth down.

Elizabeth Forward scored two first-half touchdowns immediately after the Trojans failed to convert on fourth-down plays near or past midfield.

In all, Derry went 1 for 5 on fourth down — the only conversion coming in a late drive that culminated in a Colton Nemechek touchdown reception from Paul Koontz with 1:39 remaining in regulation — and had two punts blocked.

“I think we struggled getting the momentum all game,” Derry coach Tim Sweeney said. “When we got the ball, our defense, for the most part, played pretty well against the run and we didn’t tackle well a couple times … and we just struggled to get momentum.”

When Derry finally got some momentum, it was too late.

After the Nemecheck touchdown, the Warriors forced the Trojans to burn all their timeouts before they turned it over on downs. It took only three plays before Koontz hit Flack for a 21-yard touchdown pass and then Dom DeLuca with the 2point conversion to get the game back to within a field goal.

With only 13 seconds left, though, Derry was forced to go for the onside kick, and the Trjoans seemed to recover it. But the officials deemed a Trojans player had illegally touched the ball, and the subsequent penalty gave the Warriors possession and the win.

“In my mind, I was confident in the defense to go for it on the fourth and, so when they scored, I knew the hands team would take care of it and get on the ball,” Benedek said.

“We ended up getting a good call to win the game.”