Team NYC’s Denzel Duchenne gets tackled. (Denis Gostev)
New York City’s long evening at Hofstra University wasn’t going to be saved in the final minutes. Sloppy football, from penalties and turnovers to missed assignments on defense, made sure of that Tuesday night in front of an Empire Challenge record 12,418 at Shuart Stadium.
Alvin Cornelius’s 18-yard touchdown reception from Jessel Jones, though, saved the city from the indignity of becoming the first team to get shutout in the 15 years teams from Long Island and the five boroughs have faced one another in the Empire Challenge, the annual all star game pitting the best seniors from New York City against those hailing from Long Island.
“At least we got one little touchdown,” the Syracuse-bound Cornelius of Tottenville said after Long Island’s 31-7 thumping, “so it doesn’t look too bad.”
Cornelius’ grab, indeed, dulled the pain somewhat after what was a hard-to-watch evening for city football fans after NYC dropped the yearly showcase for the second straight year.
Little went right for the city. Quarterbacks Jessel Jones (Lincoln) and Kevin Gebon (Poly Prep) combined to complete just 10-of-27 passes for 82 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The city committed five penalties for 49 yards, was outgained 340-215 and had no answers for Long Island’s versatile offensive attack.
“I feel embarrassed,” Boys & Girls defensive end John Courcelle said. “We got smacked, smoked. I’m very upset.”
UMass-bound running back Stacey Bedell ran for 137 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns, including the early nail in the coffin, a 92-burst on a cutback that extended the lead to 26-0 early in the third quarter, coming after NYC was stopped on the 1-yard line.
“That was a big play for them, obviously,” Lincoln and NYC head coach Shawn O’Connor said.
Stony Brook-bound quarterback Steven Ferreira carved up the city’s secondary, thought to be its strength. He completed 8-of-11 passes for 132 yards and tossed touchdown passes to Mike Richardson and Alex Rawa.
“They were loaded this year,” O’Connor said. “That might be one of the better teams Long Island has had in a while.”
The city did have its chances on offense, moving into Long Island territory three times before Cornelius found pay dirt. Either drives stalled, because of penalties, dropped passes or miscommunications, or turnovers were their undoing.
“We never got into a flow on offense,” O’Connor said. “We dropped some balls and we made some bad penalties that killed drives. I was happy with [our quarterbacks’] decisions. I don’t think they played poorly.”
The lopsided loss was a relatively new experience for O’Connor, who is coming off an undefeated 13-0 season at Lincoln and the school’s first city championship since 1990. Then again, NYC did escape the shutout and didn’t allow the most points in the game – that would be 44 in 2005.
“I didn’t want to outdo [that],” he joked.
O’Connor would like another crack in the game – after all, it would mean he would win another title, as the PSAL champion’s coach is the head coach of New York City for the game.
“Hopefully I can get back here and tie my record,” he said. “I’ll take it now. Let’s get that loss out of the way.”