WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey September 22, 2006: Everything happens in AND TO White Plains. It was 2nd and G on the Gorton 1 yard line and the Tigers were knock-knock-knockin on touchdown door, trailing 14-7 with 3 minutes to go in the third quarter after a furious rally.
THE PLAY: Video Tape freezes the moment in time when Paul LaBarbera, Tiger QB (bare leg, center of picture) appears to have crossed the goal line. Officials ruled the ball came out of his hands into the end zone for a touchback. Video Still,Courtesy White Plains Tigers.
The snap! Paul Labarbera Tiger QB hit the line, appeared to lean into the endzone breaking the plane of the goal. Wolves and Tigers were piled up in the slanting shadows of the last day of summer. But as they unpiled, there was no touchdown signal. Then, incredulously the Referee, Jim MiGinty was signaling touchback. Tiger coaches threw up their hands in disbelief. Gorton players at first dejected started to whoop it up and clap.
As Tiger coaches implored the referees to say what happened, the four officials conferred. The ref again signaled touchback, ruling that LaBarbera had fumbled into the end zone. However the ruling in these situations is if any part of the football breaks the plane of the goal it is a touchdown no matter if the ball pops loose after it crosses. To no avail, the touchback ruling stood. Gorton took over the ball on their 20. The Tigers had incredibly been denied the equalizer.
White Plains stopped Gorton on a fumble (Gorton coughed up the ball 6 times this afternoon, White Plains 4 times) as the fourth quarter began taking possession on the Wolf 36. The Tigers had another chance to tie the contest but Paul LaBarbera was sacked deep back on the 44 as the Wolves came on a blitz. His pass to Ray Mitchell was high on the far sideline and on third down his pass to Joe Petit over the middle was high. But, in fairness Paul had no pass protection all day.
Block That Punt – And They Did.
On 4th down on the G 45, the Tigers went to pin the Wolves inside the 10 with a punt.
John Perez’s punt was blocked cleanly – his second blocked punt of the year -- and Gorton took over on the White Plains 45. Tiger Coach Mike Stevens blamed the blocked punt on perhaps widening the line gaps, but he credited the Wolf who made the touch with making a great play at the right time.
Joe Petit tackled Sean Mapp as he ripped up the Tiger middle at the 35. Angel Cotto was trapped for a three yard loss then it was third down. Sean Mapp swiveled through the middle to the Tiger 25. Then BOOM! Angel Cotto blasted, spun, deked his way busting through the middle like Tiki Barber for a 25 yard touchdown run that with the point made it 20-7 with 9 minutes to go in the game. A Tiger fumble by Mitchell on the kickoff return set Gorton up for another score. Two runs set the ball up on the 2 (Gorton sliced and diced and bounced its way from goal line to goal line all day, averaging 10 yards a carry, and unofficially gaining over 300 yards according to their line coach, never having to punt, turning the ball over only on their six fumbles.) Sean Mapp then burst six yards for the 28-7 lead with 4 minutes to go in the game.
Two TD PASSES in First half.
After a scoreless first quarter, Gorton got on the Board with a 26 yard punt return by Markeen Gaines bringing the ball back to midfield. (Tiger special teams did not distinguish themselves today, missing a lot of tackles coughing up unseemly yardage on kickoffs and punt returns.)
Gorton went 50 yards in six plays to take a 7-0 lead. On 3rd and 11 from their own 49, Sean Mapp threw a 26 yard strike over the middle to James Montgomery for a 1st on the Tiger 25. Cotto ran to the 22 On 2nd and 8, QB Mike Asiedu threw from the right side of the field to the left side catching the Tigers in a defensive switch leaving Nick Mahabeer all alone at the five yard line to gather in a 28 yard touchdown pass and wheel into the endzone. No one was close to him.
94 Yards in 4 Minutes.
White Plains started to put together an effective passing attack on the ensuing series. Paul LaBarbera hit Ray Mitchell with a 27 yard connect setting up the Tigers with a 1st on the Gorton 48. A running play and a pass fell incomplete. On the following punt, a clip by Gorton on the punt return put Gorton in a hole 1st and 10 on their own 6 with 94 yards to go to a touchdown and 4 minutes to go in the half.
They proceeded to take the ball 94 yards in 7 plays to go into the half with a 14-0 lead. Five running plays got them to the Tiger 31. Using splendid clock management by Dan DeMatteo, a pass to Cotto got them to the 16 with 25 seconds left. With first and 10 on the 16, QB Mike Asiedu hit Sean Mapp on a slant to the sideline. He outran the Tiger defender to coffin corner and incredibly the Wolves had chewed up 94 yards of real estate in 4 minutes.
Gorton's surprise TD with 16 seconds to go in the First Half: A swing pass to Sean Mapp, bottom left has the angle to paydirt on the Tiger corner. Photo, WPCNR Sports.
Coach Stevens autopsied the two touchdown passes: “We were switching from one coverage to another, and one of our defensive backs got twisted around. The kid was able to get some leverage on him and then after he had the leverage he just took it to the sideline. On the second one, we flushed him out of the pocket a little to his left, threw across the grain. I think he caught our other corner by surprise, and he ran him out to his corner.”
Play That Funky Music White Boy! The White Plains High School Marching Band performs at halftime at the old Parker bowl. Photo, WPCNR Sports
Gorton started the Third Quarter the same way, marching down the field. But the Tigers reaching back for something extra, digging deep, made things happen. Cotto had the ball stripped on a running play at the 37 and the Tigers took over. Kudos for the aggressive fericious pursuit in the second half by the Tiger Defensive line that was stepping up the hit level and making the dancing Wolves pay for every yard
Ray Takes One All the Way: Tiger halfback Ray Mitchell Just ahead of Gorton's # 3, putting the Tigers back into the football game with a dazzler of a 37 yard run thorough a pack of Wolves for the first Tiger TD of the year. Photo, WPCNR Sports.
On the first play, Ray Mitchell took a crisp pitchback from LaBarbera, got outside on a sweep in a hurry and lit out DOWN the sideline and with the Wolves seeming to stand still as he raced on in, he slipped inside the pylon for a 37 yard touchdown run. John Perez added the point and it was 14-7 with about 7 minutes to go in the third quarter. The Tigers were a-LIVE! ALIVE!
Then came the Touchdown Touchback
On the kickoff, Malcolm Weight fumbled as he was hit. Tiger ball on the G-40. The tying drive began in the long shadows. Paul LaBarbera nailed Savaughn Greene in the left flat for a gain to the 29. Gorton was called for a late hit on the play, moving the Tigers to the 12. After two losses put the Tigers at the 9, with a 3rd and 7, LaBarbera threw in the flat again to Savaughn who was tripped up at the 1, starting the ghastly touchdown into touchback series.
Ray Mitchell caught at the 6 to set up the ill-fated tying series. He almost made it. Photo, WPCNR Sports
One official told this reporter the ball appeared to come out of Paul’s hands as he crossed the goal.
Coach Stevens told WPCNR, “I didn’t see the ball, but what I got from everybody, uptop (press box) included, the ball crossed the goal line and he got it smacked out of his hand, and they recovered it at that point. If it’s over the plane of the goal, it’s a touchdown. For every official to tell me that they didn’t see it. That tells me that I don’t know what was going on.”
WPCNR viewed the video tape replay and Mr. LaBarbera appears standing up leaning in over the goal line, and there is no sign of the ball coming loose. You cannot rip the ball out of a carrier’s hands once it has crossed the goal to cause a fumble.
This is the second game that Head Official Jim MiGinty has been involved in which a MiGinty call has cost the Tigers key points they appeared to have scored. He was the official in the Mount Vernon extra point game, where an extra point try that would have won the game was waved off from the side, when even Mount Vernon had thought it was good. Mount Vernon went on to win.
Gorton dominated on offense throughout the game, but nonetheless, Coach Stevens had these comments: “I think the big thing we have to get better at is stopping the fullback. Our defense is predicated on different segments of the game. One of them we start every week by starting to stop the fullback and facing the wing T. At this point in time we’re just not doing a great job, we’re doing an O.K. job. We start doing a little bit better job, I think we’re going to be much more effective. I thought we took a step forward (today). I thought we got better.
It’s kind of hard to say that when you lose 28-14, but the way we open up with our youth, I have no one back on offense, we only have three kids back on defense. We open up with New Rochelle, and then we go to Gorton, it’s tough.”
This is the second game that Head Official Jim MiGinty has been involved in which a MiGinty call has cost the Tigers key points. He was the official in the Mount Vernon extra point game, where an extra point try that would have won the game was waved off from the side, when even Mount Vernon had thought it was good.
The Brooklyn Dodgers used to be known as a team that weird things happened to that cost them games. There was a saying, “Everything happens in Brooklyn.”
They should change that to “Everything happens to and in White Plains.”
With 3 minutes to go, Bobby Thompson picked up the sixth Gorton fumble and outran the field for a 75 yard touchdown run to close out the Tiger scoring at 28-14. Thompson typified the guts of the Tiger club today. They came out trying in the second half, hit harder and swarmed the runners and created breaks for themselves because like all Tiger teams, they never give up. Paul LaBarbera is gaining confidence at QB, Coach Stevens is mixing up the running combinations. Ray Mitchell is looking very good. Savaughn Greene is showing Mark Bavaro hands -- he's quick, gets out there and he and Paul are getting to know each other. Joe Petit continued to make key stops -- and the defensive line intensity and pride was growing.
It’s coming together.
A Perfect Football Afternoon in White Plains, New York, USA. Photo, WPCNR Sports
