South Beats North, Wins Supervisor's Cup [VIDEO]

The Clarkstown South football team made a number of mistakes Friday night against North, including bad penalties and turnovers, but none mattered more than the mistake that came after the Vikings took a 14-7 lead with 9:40 left to go in the game.

South kicker Shane Cronin attempted to squib kick the ball downfield so one of North’s dangerous returners couldn’t get it. However, Cronin kicked it right at one of the Rams on the frontline, bouncing the ball off his leg and allowing South’s Michael O’Connor to jump on the loose ball. The Vikings took over on Norths’ 45-yard line, and, nine plays later, Cronin came back out and hit a short field goal to give South a 17-7 lead, a lead which it would not relinquish.

“I saw the ball hit off a North player and I was right on it,” O’Connor said. “Our coach’s motto is ‘fast, hard, finish’ and that’s just what we did tonight.”

North made it close after scoring late, but couldn’t overcome the double digit deficit, as the Vikings won 17-14, giving them the Supervisor’s Cup for the first time since 2008. After the game, South coach Michael Scarpelli was quick to say the play was supposed to be a squib kick.

“I’ll be honest, it was not a planned onside kick, and maybe sometimes those are the best onside kicks,” he said.

Still, he added the Vikings do practice racing downfield after squib kicks.

“We time it, because if you kick it too fast then your guys aren’t there yet,” Scarpelli said. “It’s the timing as they’re running and you’re kicking, you get down there as soon as they have to do something with the ball.”

And so South overcame three interceptions and a lost fumble that went for a North touchdown. The Vikings relied heavily on their effective two-man rushing attack of Thomas Lent, who scored both Viking touchdowns, and Frank Tucek, who rushed for 100-plus yards in the game. The win had some added impact for Tucek and his fellow seniors, who, unless they were on varsity as freshmen, hadn’t beat North.

“It’s the first time, it’s a great feeling,” Tucek said. “And on my last chance. I can’t really explain it.”

Scarpelli said before the game, he told his team they’ll have a lot of good memories from high school, a lot of great memories playing high school sports, some even better memories playing high school football, but their best memory will be beating North.

“After that, we were ready to play football,” he said.

After the game, the Supervisor’s Cup, which goes to the winner of the North-South game each year, was being presented by Clarkstown Central School District Superintendent Dr. Margaret Keller-Cogan, Superintendent of Highways Wayne Ballard, and Clarkstown Councilmen Frank Borelli and George Hoehmann. When they asked if the team was going to come up and accept it, a large number of Vikings yelled out for Tucek to go up and accept it for the team. He did, raised it up and then yelled that every Viking was going to hold it.

“It’s such an honor,” Tucek said. “I love all my boys, and for them to pick me to do that was a great feeling.”

For the Rams, they had only one turnover, but it was a costly one. On the first possession of the game, the Rams botched an option from quarterback Travis Samuels to Korey Johnson, and it was recovered by South. On the ensuing possession, Lent ran in his first score of the game to give South an early 7-0 lead.

“Who knows, we don’t fumble there, we punt, and it might be a different game,” North coach Joe Trongone said.

The Rams were a benefit of a turnover in the third quarter, though, when Samuels recovered a South fumble and ran it back for a touchdown to get North on the board. The Rams didn’t get their first offensive points until there was 1:48 to go in the game, when Eddie Ruckel ran it in from a yard out.

Even to get to the one-yard line was an adventure for North. A few plays earlier, a false start by the Rams pushed them back to the 20-yard line, setting up a third-and-18. South’s Kevin Giordano burst through the line, causing Samuels to turn and take a few steps backwards, and before Giordano could get to him, Samuels threw the ball over his head near a receiver, but it dropped incomplete.

On the fourth-and-18, Samuels handed off to Johnson coming on an end-around. Johnson took a few steps, planted his foot and unloaded a soaring pass as he got hit toward the left sideline. Samuels raced down field and hauled it in at the one and was knocked out of bounds to keep the drive, and game, alive.

“We put that in this week,” Trongone said. “Just a great throw and a great play by Travis Samuels down there at the goal line.”

But even on a scoring drive, the Rams fell victim to some issues that sprung up throughout Friday’s game, the biggest one being penalties. A few plays before Ruckel scored, Samuels scored as well. He darted out of the pocket, slipped by a few Viking defenders and ran one into the right side of the end zone.

His touchdown was called back for holding. Just on that drive, the Rams had three penalties that pushed them back a combined 30 yards as more time slipped off the clock. And the penalties weren’t only on that one drive. The Rams hurt themselves with penalties throughout the game.

“It just felt like we could never get something going,” Trongone said. “Every time we started to, we got a big penalty and it hurt us.”

The Samuels touchdown was also the second North score taken off the board. After tying the game in the third, Samuels rolled out to his left and completed a pass to Johnson, who darted down the sideline avoiding a few South defenders on his way to the end zone. Except, on his way there, he barely stepped out of bounds on the 12-yard line. After two short runs, Samuels was called for intentional grounding on third back, backing the Rams up and forcing them to punt.

In the loss, Samuels had a rather impressive state line. He had a 150-plus combined passing and rushing yards, a huge 19-yard reception, two interceptions and a fumble recovered for a touchdown.

South was packed with fans for both teams who were all treated to an exciting game, and a game they might not have to wait a year to see played again. Next week the playoffs begin on Thursday, and there’s a possibility North and South will meet in the first round. Trongone said the teams find out Sunday officially who they are playing.

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