WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. September 30, 3006: The scoreboard said it was 3rd and 2 from the Mount Vernon 14, 12-6, Mount Vernon, deep into the third quarter, but the newly poised, surging Tigers were driving for the evener-upper.
Quarterback Paul LaBarbera was over the ball then horror! The Parker Stadium crowd looked on aghast as the football squirted out from the center snap off Paul’s hands. He dashed back for what was either an early snap or miscommunication and he fell on the ball, but the damage was done. White Plains had a 4th and 6 on the 16. On 4th down, Paul drifted back rolled slightly left and lofted a high pass to Shavaghn Greene at the coffin corner flag in triple coverage. Shavaughn turned for the ball at the 1, was poised to make the first down catch only to have it deftly swatted away by a Vernon defender, reaching awkardly back with a backhand swat. The bid was denied.
The Tiger drive was stopped after they had held the ball for 16 plays and 10 minutes and driven from their own 6 yard line to the Knight 12 – keyed by a 3rd down snd 10 pass in the right flat LaBarbera to Mike Howard at the Knight 22, where Howard deked and swiveled his way for a first down on the 22. Earlier a LaBarbera to Shavaughn Green pass for 28 yards got the Tigers out of trouble to keep the drive alive against the big, fast Knight line.
The Knights inherited the ball on the 16 and in turn bit off huge chunks of yardage, driving 84 yards in 13 plays for their third touchdown and the clincher on a 5 yard run by Gene Cooper with 3 minutes to go. There was no guarantee White Plains would have scored had it not been for the third down miscue, but it was the play of the game as far as the Tigers fate.
Mount Vernon scored on their first play from scrimmage when halfback Eugene Cooper got outside leftend in a hurry behind a perfect blocking sequence which seemed to sweep away the Tiger interfence. Cooper lit out DOWN the sideline for 52 yards and a touchdown, with no Tiger close. A try for 2 failed and it was 6-0 inside the 2 minute mark.
The Knights had their way with the Tiger defense until the final two minutes of the first half when a series of penalties on the Knights kept helping the Tigers to first downs. The key one being a pass interference giving White Plains an automatic first down on the Knight 12 yard line. LaBarbera’s pass on first down fell incomplete over the middle. On second down, the Tigers gave Paul excellent protection while Shavaugh cut for deep into the endzone at the corner. LaBarbera lofted the pass. Shavaughn went up high and came down with it with both feet inbounds – TOUCHDOWN. The score was tied 6-6 with a minute to go in the first half. John Perez attempt for the point was wide left.
Then came a questionable play. The Tiger kickoff appeared to be an onside kick. Joe Petit just missed recovering it, but it handed the Knights the ball at their 46 with a minute to do something.
The Knights ran a running play to the Tiger 48 then another run gave them a first down on the 39 with 36 seconds to go. They had no timeouts. Shawn Cowans the Knight quarterback was almost sacked by Bobby Thompson at the 50 as he was looking left but he faked him, Thompson falling to the grass. But this time it appeared that the Tiger secondary had thought the quarterback was sacked. They did not stick with their zone coverage and all alone at the 10 5 yards beyond the Tiger cornerback was Gene Cooper AGAIN. Cowans laid the ball in there and Cooper just got into the endzone by the flag for a 12-6 lead at the 30 second mark. An incredible, disheartening turn of events. Vernon went in at the half with a 12-6 lead.
The third quarter started with Mount Vernon possessing the ball for the first five minutes at which point White Plains held them on the Tiger 32 – thanks to an egregious double personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which stalled the Knight drive.
The Knights punted forcing the Tigers back to their 6, when the ill-fated drive to the tie began.
This was another one of those “character builders” for the Tigers. One uncoordinated procedural misque at the wrong time stopped what might have been. But that’s football.
The smaller White Plains interior line was pushed around the first 30 minutes of the game by the big fast Knights who cleared out huge holes for their backs. But, the Tigers held when they had to, then took back the real estate in the second half of the third quarter taking over the battle of the line. The Knights reached back for that something extra after stopping the Tigers on 4th down and 6. Big harsh running bursts by Gene Cooper, Tyree Stevenson and four running plays by Jim McMillian got them down into the Tiger red zone with Gene Cooper applying the final 5 yard touchdown run after Cowans had run 13 yards to the Tiger 5.
The Tigers are 0-3. Mount Vernon moves to 3-1. White Plains travels to Roosevelt next Saturday.
