Steinert’s comeback falls short of the Wall
HAMILTON » It won’t rank as the greatest comeback in Steinert football history because it did not result in a victory; but it had to be the program’s most impressive rally that ever came up short.
Trailing by 28 points at halftime, the 4th-seeded Spartans closed to within a touchdown by after three quarters before 5th-seeded Wall Township held on for a 49-41 win in an NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III first-round playoff game Saturday.
“I’m proud of all my teammates for facing the adversity,” said quarterback Conor Smith, who threw for 119 yards and two touchdowns. “We’re down 35-7 at halftime, which is a huge deficit. I’m proud of me, our teammates and our coaches for facing that adversity.”
“At halftime our biggest thing was just using our heart and keep playing,” added Jordan Morrison, who rushed for 132 yards, threw for 103 and accounted for four TDs. “You never really give up. I know in the first half we looked pretty dead. But the most important thing at halftime we preached was just play with our heart, keep going and keep fighting and that’s what we did in the second half.”
The Crimson Knights (5-4) entered the game having lost four of five, but unleashed a running back without weakness. Brady McNally showed speed, strength, balance, vision and patience in rushing for 331 yards and five touchdowns.
“He’s a good player,” coach Dan Caruso said. “You see him on film, you see him in person from the stands, but I didn’t realize he was that big (5-11, 195). He’s a thick, strong kid and tough to bring down. And they have a very good offensive line, they’re tough kids, hats off to them.”
McNally did most of his damage in the first half, when he rushed for 253 yards and four TDs. Wall scored on its first three possessions, with McNally scoring on runs of 49 and 41 yards and quarterback Eddie Scott going 17 to make it 21-0.
Morrison’s first touch resulted in a 70-yard touchdown run. Wall answered with two more McNally TD runs – one for 87 yards – to make it 35-7.
At halftime, the coaches told the Spartans to go for broke, and they did.
On the kickoff, Jake Swindasz took the ball and went cross field to flip to Morrison, who exploded 60 yards for a touchdown. Steinert’s defense began to toughen and on the Spartans next series, Conor Smith found Miles Smith with a 45-yard TD pass. It was the first of three Smith TD catches.
Showing some moxie of its own, Wall responded with Tim McKernan’s 35-yard touchdown catch to make it 42-21. Steinert answered with an 80-yard scoring strike from Morrison to Miles Smith. After Wall fumbled away the kickoff at its 9, Morrison grabbed a TD toss suddenly it was 42-35 with an entire quarter left.
“We just started off slow and gave them a lot,” Conor Smith said. “Our big message at halftime was to just relax, have fun, what have we got to lose? Do it for the seniors, do it for the coaches, do it for yourself. We just came out, me personally I just had fun. I was relaxed. I was just doing what I loved and there really wasn’t anything else I’d rather be doing right now.”
Once again Wall answered, as Dylan Richey’s 70-yard kickoff return set up McNally’s fifth TD run. Back came Steinert as Smith caught a 15-yard TD pass from Morrison. That was it for the scoring, however.
Steinert had one last chance when Wall had a fourth-and-4 at the Spartans 35. Steinert jumped offsides to give the Knights a first down and they ran out the final 3:35.
“We gave them too much of a head start,” Caruso said. “We looked at it like it’s not that we lost to these guys, we just kind of ran out of time to beat them. We take solace in the fact we’re a good team and we can hang with these guys, but just too many points at the front of the game.”
Wall (5-4) Steinert (5-4) 21 7
McNally 49 run (Mulreed kick) Scott 17 run (Mulreed kick) McNally 41 run (Mulreed kick) Morrison 70 run (Falvo kick)
McNalley 87 run (Mulreed kick) McNally 13 run (Mulreed kick)
Morrison 60 kickoff return (Falvo kick) M. Smith 45 pass from C. Smith (Falvo kick) McKenna 65 pass from Scott (Mulreed kick) M. Smith 80 pass from Morrison (Falvo kick) Morrison 10 pass from C. Smith (Falvo kick)
McNally 1 run (Mulreed kick)
M. Smith 15 pass from Morrison (kick failed) Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @Fish4scores
14 0 7 28 7 — 6 — 49 41