Zurita kicks Ramsey to Friday the 13th win over Pascack Hills by Greg Tartaglia of The Record
RAMSEY – Wearing the number of the day, Rafael Zurita capped a happy Friday the 13th for Ramsey.
In his blue and gold No. 13 jersey, Zurita kicked a 22-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to lift the Rams past Pascack Hills, 9-7, in an NJSFC American Gold Division football contest at John C. DePuyt field.
The two teams entered the game tied for fourth in the North 1, Group 2 power points. The win gave Ramsey (4-3) a leg up, although the Cowboys (4-2) do have a game in hand before the eight-game cutoff.
The Rams rushed 50 times for 234 yards, including on 18 of the 19 plays during their 88-yard drive to set up the winning kick.
Zurita had missed a potential game-tying PAT late in the first half and had to wait through two “icing” time outs taken by Pascack Hills.
“I was really nervous at first, but my teammates helped me overcome the nerves,” the junior right-footer said. “I just took a deep breath, like my coach always tells me to do, and I kicked it.”
The Cowboys went on an 11-play, 95-yard drive to get their touchdown, a four-yard Mitchell Bloom run with 5:44 left in the first half. Defensive lineman Christopher Centeno set up the march by recovering a bad snap after Ramsey had reached first-and-goal inside the five.
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Senior Chris Frohlich scored the Rams’ TD on a three-yard run with 31 seconds left in the first half, one play after Cooper Mandel hit Matt Fowler with a 29-yard pass – Ramsey’s only completion in five attempts.
Player of the game: It has to be Zurita, who said he ended up with uniform No. 13 because 12 and 14 were unavailable. The field goal was his third of the season; he made a 27-yarder against Ridgefield Park and a 35-yarder against Verona.
Turning point: Pascack Hills had a fourth-and-5 at the Ramsey 7 with 7:31 to go and could have attempted a field goal to pad its 7-6 lead. Instead, it tried a pass to the end zone that Ryan Mahon knocked down.
“Our snapper hurt his hand just before halftime,” Cowboys coach Brooks Alexander said. “So we didn’t want to take a chance at missing the field goal without ever having an opportunity to go for the touchdown. But we thought about it.”
Key stat: The rushing yardage for each team was even at 124 apiece at halftime. Ramsey took control in the second half behind Frohlich (14 carries, 90 yards) and junior Stephen Lowery (22 carries, 107 yards).
“We tried to just simplify the offense [in the second half] and just play power foortball,” Rams coach Anthony Petrock said.
Unsung heroes: The junior-dominated Ramsey offensive line got the job done, with two-way linemen John Hillman (nine tackles), Vinny Bernier (seven tackles, sack) and Luke Cataldo (six tackles) making an impact on both sides of the ball.
“We knew what we had to dominate the line of scrimmage, and our boys got it done in the end,” Hillman said.
Pascack Hills got strong play from senior tackles Mark Henni and Michael Banovic. Henni, also the team’s kicker, converted his only extra-point try, and Banovic tied Jack Eichner for the team lead in tackles with nine.