WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. October 23, 2004: Carmel High's  "Humvee" Dave O'Connor took over the football with 3:41 minutes to go in the Section I Football Playoff this afternoon.  The reported 260 pound all-muscle, 5-6 fullback consumed yardage, carrying Tigers on his back six straight times through the meat of the valiant Tiger line on six straight plays to wind down the clock and deny the Tigers the ball and a chance to tie or win in the final minutes to give Number 1 seeded Carmel a 21-14 victory today. White Plains record dropped to 5-3.

NIGHT TRAIN LANE (23), shown dashing to the Carmel 39 with the interception that put White Plains back in the football game. Shortly thereafter Kevin Avery hit Gary Morello with a 15 yard TD strike in coffin corner to make the score 21-14. Photo by WPCNR Sports. 

He's at the 15, Lane at the 10, at the 5, TouchDOWN!TouchDOWN! Mike Lane (at center of pic, between two Rams in blue), shocked the crowd with this 70 yard Kickoff Return with  10 minutes to go in the football game, that gave Tiger Fans hope. Lane picked the ball on the near side line at the White Plains 30, and lit out to the far sideline and simply out ran 8 Rams DOWN the far sideline for 6, to make the score 21-7 with the point. Then the comeback became possible when his interception got the ball back within the next 3 minutes. Photo by WPCNR Sports

After White Plains trailed 21-0 going into the final quarter, Mike "Night Train" Lane got the Tigers back in a position to win the game, with a 70 yard kickoff return and a key interception on the next series leading to Kevin Avery's 15 yard touchdown pass to Gary Morello to make the score 21-14, and thanks to O'Connor's grind-it-out-finish, that's the way it ended.

Carmel dominated the first half, building a 15-0 lead, giving White Plains only 10 plays from scrimmage, while the Rams ran off 25 plays, behind their two big backs, O'Connor and Tom Calinan. A touchdown early in the 3rd quarter resulting from an interception of an Avery pass on the White Plains 39, lead to the final and winning Ram TD by O'Connor.