Jahleel Fenelon was hoping to make his final run as a Lafayette football player next Sunday in victory.
Instead, there was the Patriots senior quarterback holding an American flag with a football attached to the bottom, running the length of the field at Lafayette. He finished the jog in between two lines of teammates down the middle of the field and handed the flag to an underclassman to end the Senior Lap ritual after the top-seeded Patriots fell, 22-15, to No. 4 Petrides in the PSAL Cup division semifinals Sunday in Brooklyn.
“I didn’t expect it to be for today, but it was very emotional knowing that it was really my last lap running on this Lafayette field,” said Fenelon, who helped lead the program back from consecutive winless seasons to the top of the Cup this fall.
He wasn’t in for the final play after scoring twice on the ground in the second half to give the Patriots their first lead at 15-14 with 1:56 left in the game. He landed hard on an already injured shoulder and had to leave the field. Backup quarterback John Rodriguez’s pass from the Panthers’ 36 was intercepted by Joe Henry as time expired.
Petrides (9-2) had regained the lead on Henry’s third touchdown of the game, a 21-yard run that capped a 6-play, 64-yard drive with 37.6 seconds left in the game. He ran for 194 yards on 38 carries.
“We were in a pass defense and they kept running, a couple of things went their way,” Lafayette co-head coach Thomas Vitola said.
Lafayette (7-4) trailed 8-0 at the half, which included a safety on a block punt, and 14-0 going into the fourth. It could have been worse without Michael Damus’ 15 tackles or 13 stops from Chris Woolbright.
The elusive Fenelon, who ran for 155 yards on 19 carries, took over in the fourth with his legs and his arm. He had a TD run of 11 yards and 2-point conversion toss to Michael Tomlin to make it 14-8 with 7:59 remaining. On his third try at the end zone he scored on a 1-yard keeper to give Lafayette the lead after Eric Boccadifuoco’s extra point.
“I thought I made it the first time, they said I stepped out,” Fenelon said. “I took it upon myself to say, ‘I have to get in. I have to help this team win this game.’”
But it wasn’t to be.
A changing of the guard occurred after, not only between players, but the coaches. Sixth-year coach Michael Rubino, who took the final lap, will become an assistant next season so he can spend more time with his kids. Vitola, who brought the Senior Lap idea from his time at the JV coach Sheepshead Bay, takes over the helm. He loses just five seniors.
“This was a great experience for these kids,” Vitola said. … “We are building to the future.”