Erasmus knocks off champs in rematch of city title game
THE RUNNING ability of Curtis Samuel is well documented.
The junior might be the best to ever play football at Erasmus Hall by the time he leaves, Dutchmen coach Danny Landbeg says. But Samuel might have inadvertently done Lincoln a slight favor on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s PSAL title game when he returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown with 3:36 left, giving Lincoln the ball back with plenty of time to score, down by just seven.
Lincoln did the hard part, marching 68 yards for a touchdown. But the Railsplitters elected to go for two rather than force overtime with no kicker available.
Erasmus Hall cornerback Darin Peart batted down a pass on the two-point attempt in the final seconds, allowing the Dutchmen to escape with a 27-26 win in a PSAL Championship Division game at Sid Luckman Field. The Dutchmen — who lost to Lincoln in December’s title game at Yankee Stadium — remain undefeated at 7-0, and gain some measure of revenge. Tottenville is the only other undefeated team in the PSAL.
“The quarterback was trying to look me off,” Peart said of the two-point attempt in the final seconds that was intended for Lincoln tight end Darnell Phillips. “But he didn’t do a good job. I thought he was going to run and I was going to come up, but I’d rather be safe than sorry and stayed back. He threw the ball up and I just stepped up, jumped and knocked it down.”
Samuel, who also scored on a 65-yard run early in the third quarter to give his team a 14-12 lead, was clear on the task at hand when Lincoln’s Jordan Nicholson punted from his own 18 with barely four minutes left and Erasmus Hall leading 21-20.
“Before that play my coach told me, ‘Pick up the ball and take it to the house,’” said Samuel, who didn’t play in last year’s title game because of a fractured ankle and has scholarship offers from UConn, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia. “So when the ball rolled to me, I saw the blocking in front of me and I cut left and cut across the field and scored.”
Lincoln coach Shawn O’Connor made it clear he didn’t let Samuel score on purpose to get the ball back. After Lincoln quarterback Javon Moore scored his second touchdown of the day, running it in from four yards out to cut the deficit to 27-26 with 1:15 left, Peart sprang into action.
Lincoln didn’t attempt to kick an extra point all game and wasn’t about to with the game on the line. On the two-point conversion try, Moore dropped back under duress from Erasmus Hall’s Deontel Roberts and rifled a pass toward the 6-2 Phillips, who was blanketed by two defenders, Peart in front and teammate Clayton Gravenhise behind him.
Erasmus Hall quarterback Matthew Domina, a transfer from Nazareth, also was big in the win, completing 12 of 20 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns, with scoring plays to Loumell Petion and Kahlil Lewin.