Grid Rams flub pivotal two-point conversion in 14-12 loss to Peekskill on wet, raw day
October 2, 2024 at 10:19 p.m.
It was a do-or-die away gridiron match between Port Chester and Peekskill that went right down to the wire only for the Rams to short circuit at the end.
Port Chester came up a deuce short of sending the closely contested game into overtime when their two-point conversion failed in the dying moments of a wet, raw and windy game that ended with Peekskill's Red Devils edging the Rams 14-12 under the Friday night lights (9/27).
The never quit Rams
But the loss came ever so close to a win because of the way the Rams never quit.
Senior fullback John Pauletti, the battering Ram, was once again a one-man offense and by far the best back on the field. He took the Rams on his shoulders, as he has in most of the games so far, and carried the Rams to the brink of a second half comeback, chewing up the field with ground-gulping short gains, refusing to be stopped even though the Red Devils knew he was coming.
Pauletti carved up the field, ate up the clock and finally hit pay dirt with a four-yard, gravity-defying plunge up the middle of a soggy field with 2:06 left to play.
That made the score 14-12 Peekskill with the clock running down to end game.
"It's come right down to the wire!" the Peekskill game announcer shouted.
The pivotal decision
The hometown crowd braced for the Rams’ two-point conversion try that would either send the game into overtime if it succeeded or result in a W for the Red Devils if it failed.
That brought to mind a football saying attributed to University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal who said his football strategy for success was simple: "You dance with the one who brung ya" as in you give the ball to your best player because he was the one who got you in a position to win and gave you your best shot at doing so.
The trouble was Pauletti was the obvious choice. Peekskill knew it. The crowd knew it. And the Red Devils’ defense certainly knew it because they stacked the box with everything but pitch forks, loading up behind center so that part of the playing field was a solid. all but impenetrable human wall.
The two-play Ram offense
Up until that point the Rams’ major offense essentially consisted of two plays: Pauletti up the middle, over center, off tackle, over guard, over and over again with an occasional quarterback keep for variety. It is a predictable offense. And well scouted. But it is the Rams’ bread and butter one-two punch. So they keep going back to it.
That formula had resulted in the Rams’ only score against Peekskill with Pauletti carrying the Rams on his back almost all the way into the end zone in the third quarter with every Red Devil keying on him. That set up the quarterback keep from close in that resulted in a Rams TD with 3:17 on the clock. Backup QB Jefferson Castaneda got the TD. And Pauletti got most of the yards that put the Ram in scoring position.
And now with the clock running down in the pivotal fourth quarter, it came down to one of two choices: Pauletti up the middle or a Rams quarterback keep.
The ill-fated call
With the game on the line as the play unfolded, it quickly became apparent the Rams weren't going with the one who got them there.
Pauletti never got the ball. The Rams went for a quarterback keep instead. It didn't work. And the QB got buried under a wave of Red Devils. So the game was essentially over.
And what a game it was.
It was a game of two halves. Peekskill won the first half, capitalizing on a 25-yard run that led to a three-yard TD plunge and a two-point conversion at the start of the second quarter. That was followed by a pass interception that led to a TD going into halftime. They were up 14-0 at the half, but the Rams were still in the game.
The Rams won the battle of the second half, holding the Red Devils scoreless while notching that Castaneda TD on the QB keep in the third quarter and the Pauletti score at the end of the fourth.
Rams better on stats
The Rams outgained the Red Devils in total yardage 274-62. Most of those Red Devils’ yards were gained by Juju Watson, most of the Rams’ yards came on Pauletti up the middle, an occasional QB sweep by Alexis (Ace) Morel and a long run around end by Billy Villanova along with that TD QB keep by Castaneda. The Rams’ Scott Sullivan made an interception and Luis Granados, Alber Poroj, Xavier Tapia and Jeremy Noel dominated the P.C. line play. The irony is that Sullivan, Tapia and Noel are outstanding pass receivers, only the QBs didn't have the time to set up and hit them with the passes because of the pass rush. And the field conditions didn't help.
When all was said and done, the game swung on a wet ball on a soggy field. Morel threw an interception that led to a TD and his being replaced by Castaneda at QB. And Castaneda flipped a lateral that resulted in a recovered fumble and a Peekskill TD. Peekskill capitalized on both those mistakes. And scored on their early two-point conversion while the Rams couldn't convert their late two-point conversion attempt.
The sound of music
All of which made for a long bus ride home from Peekskill for the Rams because this was a game they coulda and probably shoulda won. They exited slowly as the Red Devils fan base rocked to Sinatra singing "New York, New York" and that line about if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere while this Ram aficionado heard in his head the git fiddles playing and the banjo strumming to that Texas two-step ballad that says you go home with the one who brung ya, swing with the one who swung ya as a formula for grid success.
The 1-3 grid Rams will take their next shot at chalking up that elusive W against Woodlands away Saturday (10/5) at 1:30 p.m. They work hard, practice hard, play hard and never quit, and they are a lot better than their record indicates. And in Pauletti they have one of the best running backs in their league, maybe even in the section and beyond.
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