Erasmus Hall had its shot – a number of them actually.
There was the two times the Dutchmen got tremendous field position after Lincoln turnovers, once at the end of the first half and the other at the beginning of the second half.
And then, E-Hall got into the red zone again down a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minutes.
All-American quarterback/safety Wayne Morgan threw twice to Luder Jean Louis in the end zone and twice the play was broken up by Lincoln’s Kareem Folkes, the final one ending No. 5 Erasmus Hall’s title bid, 20-12, against top-seeded Lincoln in the PSAL City Championship division final Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
“Crunch time, last second of our last game, we came up short,” Morgan said. “But we all fought.”
Afterward, Morgan stayed down on the turf for a long time. On one knee, he bowed his head on the 40-yard line. The senior’s magnificent career – he helped build Erasmus Hall from an afterthought to a city power – had come to an end.
“I never really felt like this in my life,” Jean Louis said. “This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a ring. First time in the championship, we came up short.”
Erasmus Hall (9-4) came in at a disadvantage. Star running back Shaquell Jackson was out with a knee injury. Sophomore running back Curtis Samuel has been out since midseason with broken bones in his leg. Still, Kahlil Lewin, in place of Jackson, had 126 yards on 15 carries. Only three of those yards came in the second half, though.
In the first half, E-Hall answered Lincoln (13-0) twice. A ridiculous run by Lewin, who seemed to be down, for 53 yards set up Morgan’s 1-yard touchdown to tie the game at 6 with 2:17 left in the first quarter. Lewin’s 32-yard run later led to two Morgan 5-yard jaunts, the latter for a touchdown to pull his team within 14-12.
The Lincoln defense clamped down thereafter. Stephon Rodriguez picked off Lincoln quarterback Jessel Jones, but the Railsplitters stopped the Dutchmen on fourth and goal from the 10 right before the half.
Miguel Acevedo fumbled the second-half kickoff return and E-Hall got the ball at the 28, but went three-and-out.
“We just had to execute,” Morgan said. “If we could have scored those two touchdowns, we would have been up.”
There were a lot of what-ifs for Erasmus Hall in this game. The rain affected its passing game when it began pouring in the third quarter. Jackson was absent. Dutchmen coach Danny Landberg declined to give excuses.
“It didn’t work out,” he said. “There’s nothing to say. It didn’t work out.”