LAST SECOND MIRACLE
Schuylerville’s last second touchdown helps them claim Class B title, 28-22
CLIFTON PARK, NY >> Friday night’s Class B title game was like something out of an M. Night Shyamalan movie. A twist of fate. After fumbling the ball on his own one yard line to allow a Holy Trinity touchdown to tie the game, Schuylerville’s Kyle Bunham punched in a two yard touchdown run with zeros on the clock to claim the Section II Class B title Friday.
“We just pounded it in,” said Bunham on the run play that sealed the deal. “We messed up the play call and I ran into my own teammate and I got stuffed in the back field. After that, we had a good kick off return, a nice catch that got a lot of yards for us, then our fullback ran it down the field and we were on the one yard line.”
Schuylerville’s Class B title win over Holy Trinity was one to remember. The final score was 28-22, but all Schuylerville faithful will remember is the drive that took the 2:05 off the clock for the walk off win.
Starting with the ball on their own 45, the Black Horses need to eat up 55 yards in two minutes for a score as the score
was tied at 22 a side. After some incomplete passes, quarterback Owen Sherman completed a 24 yard pass to Charles Luzadis and then Sam McGarrahan crushed a 20 yard run to put the Black Horses at first and goal with just about 35 seconds left on the clock.
“We were going to run. The play was called as a run but I told the coaches, ‘let’s throw it,’” said Sherman on the pass with under a minute left at around midfield. “I trust my guys. You have to take risks, especially in championship games, Charles made a great play, the line was blocking really good.”
Sherman actually did score a touchdown at the end of the game before
Bunham scored his. It just didn’t count. As the Black Horses marched down the field, with timeouts in hand, they were lining up quick to get as many chances as they could. The Black Horse’s ran a one yard run and Sherman jumped the line and crossed the endzone line. Unfortuneatly, the Black Horse’s were too quick for the clock managers, who needed to adjust the clock from .7 seconds remaining, to 2.2. In the end, Sherman’s touchdown did not count, but Bunham was able to punch his chance across.
“This is something we haven’t done since 2015,” said Sherman. “Ever since that week two loss to Glens Falls we were doubting ourselves a little bit. Around week three we turned it up and starting believing in each other and the coaches andjust really came together and won the championship.”
At halftime, the game looked like it would be a completely different type of game from the way it ended. Holy Trinity was leading 7-6. The Pride had scored their touchdown at 5:19 in the first quarter off of a 60 yard touchdown throw by Joe Tortello to Nacier Hundley.
Schuylerville responded in the second quarter with a one yard touchdown run by Sherman. The two point conversion eventually failed. Schuylerville scored again in the third quarter at 3:16 on a Bunham ten yard run. Holy Trinity quickly responded with a 53 yard drive that lasted 50 seconds. Tortello racked up 52 passing yards and running back Noah Foster punched in a one yard touchdown run.
In the fourth quarter that’s where things got good. Schuylerville scored at 8:22 again off a Bunham run, this time from three yards out. The two point conversion was completed thanks to a Sherman pass to Bunham.
From there, the Black Horse’s defense took over. A fourth down stand on the goal line stopped Holy Trinity from scoring a touchdown with 3:12 remaining in the game. After two run plays, a Bunham fumble was recovered by Foster in the endzone. He then completed the two point conversion. Just like that, with 2:05 left on the clock, things were tied at 22.
From there, the rest is history. A good kick return, a long pass, a long run, some clock confusion, and a punch-in, that’s all Schuylerville needed to be crowned Section II Class B Champions.