By James J. Parziale
The most deafening sound in the Pride locker room was the silence. No music blared, no high-fives exchanged. Disbelief and disappointment marked most faces until the silence was broken by linebacker Gian Villante’s hush but poignant words.
“It’s my fault,” Villante said. “Decent players make plays and I didn’t make them when it counted. It’s my fault. It’s on me.”
Villante shouldered the weight because of his gaffe in coverage on the final play of Saturday’s 37-34 double overtime loss to the Northeastern University. A 22-yard pass from Shawn Brady to Shane Hopkins two plays into the second overtime sent the remnants of the 4,179 fans at James M. Shuart Stadium home on a blustery night.
Villante bit on the play-action fake on the game-winning score, giving Hopkins separation and an angle toward the end zone. Villante could not recover in coverage, and had trouble recovering after the game.
“I just blew the coverage. I figured I could play him with the a little more depth,” Villante said. “It was a play that they only ran once and you have to be prepared for it. Other guys were prepared, and I wasn’t.”
“We needed a play in overtime on defense and we didn’t get one,” coach Joe Gardi said.
Villante also lamented a dropped interception in the first overtime. Had the sophomore linebacker held onto the ball, he would have returned it about 80 yards and the Senior Day festivities could have carried into the post game. However, one play does not entirely mold a game, and early in the fourth quarter the entire Pride defense was duped.
Trailing 21-17, trickery swung the game back in the Blackbears’ favor. Brady handed off to running back Anthony Riley, who swept to the left. Riley handed to receiver Cory Parks, who looked ready to sprint, on a reverse.
As the Pride (5-5, 3-4 Atlantic 10) defense closed in, Parks hit the brakes and threw a pass back to the right side of the field to a wide open Brady, who was flailing his arms to get Parks’ attention. Brady strolled into the end zone to complete the 44-yard score. Villante said later that it was a play the defense had seen on film on Thursday.
“They had done it before,” Gardi said. “It wasn’t necessarily from the same formation…but when gimmicks beat you that is a sad state of affairs.”
The Pride’s defense, which pitched back-to-back scoreless second-halves against Richmond and Maine, let up 27 in the final two quarters and overtimes.
“[Northeastern] ran a couple gimmicks and really out-coached us,” Gardi said. “I thought they played and inspired game. Their best player [linebacker Liam Ezekial] was suspended and I felt they wanted it more than my guys.”
Northeastern (4-6, 3-4 A-10) had a secret weapon in assistant head coach and defensive backs coach Jim Salgado, who coached with the Pride the past two seasons and played from 1989-1992.
Salgado was ecstatic to leave to his alma mater with a win, and explained he first saw the reverse-option pass while coaching against Northeastern. It worked then, and it worked Saturday.
“Because of the defense [the Pride] runs at certain times there’s no one to cover the quarterback,” Salgado said.
“It’s just a great feeling, not just for me but for these kids,” continued Salgado, whose Northeastern Blackbears snapped a four-game losing skid. “This is a huge win for us. It feels great to come home and get a win. Our kids came out and made plays. We hung in through two overtimes.”
Over halfway through the third quarter, however, the Pride’s resiliency was tested. Trailing 17-7, running back Terry Crenshaw’s 3-yard touchdown run capped a nine-play drive that was kept afloat by quarterback Anton Clarkson’s 23-yard run on third-and-12.
After the Blackbears went three-and-out on their ensuing possession, the Pride took over at its own 13. But completions of 19 to receivers Issac Irby (10 catches for 76 yards) and 20 to Charles Sullivan (four catched for 49 yards) moved the Pride down the field briskly. Clarkson capped the drive by connecting Devale Ellis on a slant for 16-yard score that gave the Pride a 21-17 lead.
After Northeastern took a 24-21 lead on Brady’s touchdown catch, the Pride over at its 20-yard line with 1:31 on the clock. Going into an 18-mile-per-hour wind, a potential game-tying field goal attempt would be difficult.
“I wanted to get to the 35-yard line,” said senior kicker Chris Onorato.
The offense did him nine yards better, setting up a 40-yard field goal. Clarkson’s (28 of 49 for 290 yards and three touchdowns) two-minute drill was virtually flawless, as completions of 17, 18 and 19 yards got the ball to the 23-yard line for Onorato. His kick might have been good from the 33.
“I’ve been waiting four years for a kick like that; I wasn’t going to miss it,” said Onorato, who set the A-10’s new all-time field goal record.
After exchanging touchdowns in the first OT, the Gardi elected to take the ball first in the second extra frame. When the Pride was held to a field goal, the Pride defense knew it could not allow a touchdown. Two plays into the possession, Hopkins crossed the plain of the goal line and Northeastern rejoiced.
“We didn’t even slow them down in overtime,” Gardi said, “it was pathetic.”
NOTES AND QUOTES
The pre-game festivities honored the graduating senior football players and staff members, but the ceremonies have just begun for Isaac Irby, who asked his girlfriend Tessie Bezza to marry him while he was being honored on the field.
“I was thinking about doing it around Christmas time until this popped into my head,” said Irby after his last collegiate home game. “It was a fun day with my future my wife, I wish we could have won, though.”
Jim Salgado savored a victory in his first return to his old stomping ground, but had high praise for someone he considers a mentor. “I have the utmost respect for coach Gardi. I played here and worked for him. Through all the years I’ve been coaching he’s always helped me along.”
Sophomore running back Terry Crenshaw has amassed 817 net yards this season with a 4.4 yards per carry average. Crenshaw also has seven touchdowns for the Pride. (Staff Photo)