Bishop Ford quarterback Xaviah Mattocks had just 6.7 seconds to try and win a championship for his team.
It’s all the time he needed.
Three plays after completing a 34-yard bomb down the sidelines to Marcus Shider to keep his team’s hope alive, Mattocks was faced with a 4th-and-11 trailing St. Francis Prep by four points with time dwindling in the fourth quarter.
With 6.7 seconds left, Mattocks found tight end Rodney Gonzales in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown that sealed the game for the Falcons.
Ford (6-4) went on to defeat SFP, 22-18, to win the CHSFL Class A championship at Mitchel Field in Long Island on Saturday.
“During the drive, all I could think about was getting in the end zone,” Mattocks said. “We had to get there. I’m feeling a swirl of emotions now. I’m glad we won, but I’m going to miss our seniors.”
Mattocks went 6-of-13 with 89 passing yards, an interception, and a fumble.
Ford players and coaches on the sideline erupted once Gonzales made the catch, as they all realized what the moment meant.
“I’m speechless right now,” Gonzales said. “This is a great feeling. I’m about to cry.”
While Gonzales was the hero, the MVP trophy was awarded to running back Devon Mitchell, who had two touchdowns and ran for 148 yards on 33 carries.
“It’s ridiculous, it’s just crazy,” Mitchell said of the win. “You talk about winning it, you want to win it, but when you actually do win it, it’s a whole different feeling. I was in disbelief of that last touchdown. I didn’t believe it until the referee’s hands went up to signal it was a touchdown.”
While there were tears of joy for Ford, the tears on the SFP sideline were for pain of an opportunity squandered.
SFP (5-5) struck first in the game when quarterback Tom Cani connected with Rob Myers for an 18-yard touchdown 10 plays after Myers picked off Mattocks to start the drive with 3:34 remaining in the first half. SFP took the 6-0 lead into halftime.
The second half started out promising for SFP when Casey Beaudoin scored his first of two touchdowns on a 1-yard run to put the score at 12-0 in favor of SFP before Dylan King missed his second extra point of the day. King would later miss a 20-yard field goal attempt.
“We played well, but it wasn’t good enough,” said Beaudoin, who finished with 16 carries for 68 yards. “We worked hard to turn Prep into a winning program. Next year Prep will be back.”
On the following drive, Mitchell put Ford on the board with a 5-yard run to make it 12-6. Mitchell would also reach the end zone on a 3-yard run to tie the game at 12 with 8:25 left in regulation.
Cani then lead his team on a nine-play drive that ended with Beaudoin scoring on a 4-yard run just one play after he recovered his own fumble. Cani finished 9-for-14 with 95 passing yards, but was sacked three times.
“There were some big plays we didn’t capitalize on,” Cani said. “We felt like we had a good year, but we just couldn’t pull this one out.”
The Terriers weren’t able to protect the four-point lead with 5:44 remaining, and they had to watch the trophy get handed to Ford.
“It was a great football game,” legendary SFP coach Vince O’Connor said. “Sometimes in competition you get your heart broken. This is a learning process. It’s hard to lose a game that was within your grasp, but at least we made it a game.”
St. Francis Prep will look to build on its success and take it further next season, while Ford will enjoy this title win and hope to keep improving.
“I feel so happy for these kids,” Ford coach Jim Esposito said. “They never quit and they have all the heart in the world. We kept on playing and they never stopped.”
It was a hard fought game for both sides, and it all came down to 6.7 seconds.