2001 SWC CHAMPIONSHIP

Foran 7 New Milford 6

New Milford's Tim Spada (33) jumps to catch a hail mary from
teammate, Kyle Rutherford. Derek Beckner (23) would make the
catch for the Green Wave. Foran's Chuck Williams (9) defends.

Almost a miracle
New Milford completes a last-second Hail Mary, only to miss the extra point
By Ed Flink
THE NEWS-TIMES
11-16-2001
 

STRATFORD — Maybe it was destiny.

The Foran High football team withstood a miraculous Hail Mary touchdown pass on the final
play of the South-West Conference championship game to edge New Milford 7-6 Thursday
night at the DeVito Sports Complex.

New Milford went for the extra point, but the snap from center was low. Holder Richard Falencki
grabbed the ball on one bounce and ran up the middle, only to be swallowed up by the
Lions at the 5-yard line.

It marked the fifth time this season Foran (9-1) prevailed by seven points or less. Only last
week it needed a field goal in the closing seconds to beat Notre Dame-Fairfield 23-21
and clinch the Colonial Division. “Maybe its just Lions mystique we’ve got going on,’’
Foran coach Jeff Beler said, “or somebody up there likes us.’’

The Green Wave (8-2) faced a fourth down and 6 from the Foran 36 with four seconds
remaining when Kyle Rutherford dropped back to pass.

He unleashed a spiral into the end zone, where it was tipped by New Milford’s
Tim Spada and Foran’s Bob Langan.

Somehow, the ball dropped from the sky and into the fingertips of Green Wave junior
halfback Derek Beckner, who made a diving catch in the back of the end zone
with no time on the clock.

“I saw the ball in the air and then I lost it,’’ Beckner said. “All of a sudden I saw it
popped up and it just fell into my hands. I just couldn’t believe it. I dove for it and when
I got up I was in shock.’’

Said coach Tom Taylor: “You think you’re going to win when you get one of those.’’

New Milford wanted to go for the win by attempting a two-point conversion, but
didn’t feel it had enough time to set up a play.

“Unfortunately we were out of time outs, which was my fault,’’ Taylor said.

“We’ve been working on the extra point all week because we’ve been having so
much trouble. We were 0-for-6 last week. Now we’re 0-for-7.
And this one hurts. Big time.’’

“I thought we had it,’’ said Rutherford, who moved from halfback to quarterback
in the fourth quarter. “I wanted to go for two. I’d rather lose it on a failed two-point
conversion than what happened.’’

Foran took a 7-0 lead on its first possession of the third quarter, covering 74 yards on 10 plays.

Jeff Cash, the Lions’ 235-pound tailback, took a swing pass from Garrett Walker in the
left flat faked out a defender and rumbled 15 yards for the score. Karl Kurbikoff booted
what proved to be the decisive extra point.

Walker (10-of-18 for 155 yards) was outstanding during the drive, completing 4-of-5
passes for 73 yards against a secondary that yielded over 200 passing yards to
Immaculate’s Brett Palmer last week.

“Immaculate riddled us for a half last week, so when we weren’t working on extra points
this week we worked on our pass defense. We should’ve worked more on both,’’ Taylor said

New Milford nearly scored with less than two minutes remaining after moving from its
41 to the inside the Foran 10 behind the running of Tim Rourke (16 carries, 123 yards).

But on third and goal from the 5, Rourke fumbled and Foran’s Jesse Crespo recovered.

After holding the Lions on downs and forcing a punt, New Milford made the most of
the final 32 seconds. It just came up one point shy.

“They played a great game,’’ Taylor said of Foran. “They took a lot of our offense away.
They hit. It was about what I expected. It was two teams that played the same kind
of football banging on each other all night.’’

The first half was a scoreless stalemate.

Rutherford, playing safety on defense, stopped two scoring threats by the
Lions in the opening quarter.

Foran reached Green Wave 36 on its initial series before Rutherford recovered a fumble.
His end zone interception ruined the Lions’ second possession.

Meanwhile, New Milford had promising drives halted on downs at the Foran 20 and 27.

“They do what we try to do,’’ said Rutherford, holding an ice pack on the severely
swollen (if not broken) knuckles on his left hand. “Today they just did it a little bit better.’’

NOTES: Had New Milford tied the game, it would have been decided by the
Kansas Tiebreaker, in which each team gets four plays from the opponents’ 10-yard line.

Foran (9-1) 0 0 7 0 — 7

New Milford (8-2) 0 0 0 6 — 6

Third quarter

F — Jeff Cash 15 pass from Garrett Walker (Karl Kurbikoff kick), 5:37

Fourth quarter

NM — Derek Beckner 36 pass from Kyle Rutherford (run failed), 0:00.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

NEW MILFORD: Tim Rourke 16-123, Kyle Rutherford 14-20,
Tim Spada 7-6, Derek Beckner 1-5, Curtis Morea 2-3.

FORAN: Jeff Cash 13-50, Matt Franco 8-16, Peter Healy 1-6, Jesse Crespo 1-6,
Bob Langan 1-5, Brian LaPlante 1-2, Chuck Williams 1-1, Garrett Walker 1-1.

Passing

NEW MILFORD: Kyle Rutherford 2-6-1-40, Tim Spada 1-6-1-11.

FORAN: Garrett Walker 10-18-1-155, Jeff Cash 0-1-0.

Receiving

NEW MILFORD: Derek Beckner 1-36, Kyle Rutherford 1-11, Tim Rourke 1-4.

FORAN: Brian LaPlante 2-78, Bobby Langan 4-34, Jeff Cash 2-22,
Jesse Crespo 1-15, Brandon Kendzierski 1-6.

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