Erasmus Hall’s Kahlil Lewin scoresthe game-winning touchdown in overtime. (Denis Gostev)
Wayne Morgan, the city’s lone All-American, was out of the game with cramps. Star running back Shaquell Jackson hurt his thigh and wouldn’t return.
There was a little less than five minutes left in the third quarter and Erasmus Hall was only down six. But it might as well have been a three-score game in the hostile environment of Huguenot.
“A bunch of guys kept coming in and out,” Morgan said. “We had freshmen in, sophomores in. All of them stepped up.”
One of those sophomores did even more than that.
A long Morgan run led to his own scoring dive in the fourth quarter, pushing the game to overtime. After a Tottenville field goal, Kahlil Lewin, an explosive 10th-grade running back, somehow found the end zone after seemingly being pushed out of bounds to give No. 5 Erasmus Hall a stunning, 20-17 win over No. 2 Tottenville in the PSAL City Championship division football semifinals Saturday.
“We knew what his capabilities are and we had no fear giving him the ball,” emotional E-Hall coach Danny Landberg said of Lewin, who came in for Jackson. “Because he can be that spectacular.”
Spectacular enough to send Erasmus Hall (9-3) to Yankee Stadium on Dec. 6 to play top-seeded Lincoln for the city title. Spectacular enough to give the Dutchmen their first-ever championship appearance at the highest level. The program won the ‘B’ title in 1986 and 1987.
“It’s history,” Lewin said.
Twice it looked dire for Erasmus Hall. Syracuse-bound wide receiver Alvin Cornelius, doubling as a part-time quarterback in place of Brandon Barnes (torn ACL), hit Austen Moccia for a 13-yard touchdown with 8:49 left in the second quarter and ran for a 7-yard score to make it 14-0 with 3:12 remaining in the half.
Tottenville (10-2) looked to be in complete control.
Then E-Hall responded, easily driving down the field Jackson ran for 22 yards, Morgan ran for 10 more and Jackson, all of a sudden, was in from 11 yards out. Morgan plunged in for the two-point conversion to make it 14-8 going into the half.
But then things really got bleak for the Dutchmen. Jackson got hurt early in the third and Morgan limped off with 4:44 left. The star quarterback/defensive back missed two series and he knew he had to come back strong.
“It was either now or never,” Morgan said. “I was on the sidelines and my coaches were telling me I gotta make a big play. That’s why I’m here – to make big plays. My heart just started pumping. That’s what I live for.”
On his first offensive series back, Morgan found a seam rolling to his left and exploded for 40 yards down to the one-inch line. He did the rest two plays later, diving in to make it 14-all with 5:56 left.
Both teams had chances, but when Tottenville kicker Ben Bifalco missed a 43-yard with 5.5 seconds left, the game was bound for overtime.
Bifalco was almost the hero after that, connecting on a 37-yard field goal on Tottenville’s first series. Erasmus Hall, which doesn’t have a placekicker, was at a disadvantage – again.
But Lewin (107 yards on 10 carries, all after halftime) ran for five yards on first down and somehow managed to stay in bound and upright among a crowd of Tottenville defenders on the E-Hall sideline, squirting past everyone near the 10 and running into the end zone from there untouched after the initial scrum.
“They tried to push me out of bounds,” Lewin said. “I lowered my shoulder and kept my feet moving.”
Added Morgan: “That run was amazing.”
Morgan said he remembers years ago when he played for the Mo Better Jaguars youth program and former Fort Hamilton star Jeff Legree would come to practice and show off his championship ring. That was something Morgan always wanted, though attending Erasmus Hall, at the time an anonymous program, was a great risk.
Not anymore.
“We came a long way,” Morgan said. “When I got to the program, nobody knew about Erasmus. Nobody cared. Nobody looked at Erasmus. Now we’re in the championship.”