September 26, 2009
Bulldogs recover for OT win
Bryant Worts led the Bulldogs with 155 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
Click Here for more photos from Ferris at Union City.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
UNION CITY – This nightmare was all too familiar for the Bulldogs.
For the second straight week, Ferris had seen a two-score lead vanish in the fourth quarter. But when head coach Wilbur Valdez addressed his team before the start of the overtime session, he saw a different look in his team than the week before in Nutley.
“I took it back to last week where I looked into some of their eyes when they were in the same predicament and I kind of got the deer in the headlight look from some of them,” Valdez said. “I said ‘I didn’t want that this time. You’re already tested and you know what this feels like. You got yourselves into this situation and let’s get out of it.’ I could tell when I looked into their eyes I saw some fire and I was confident they’d get it done.”
The Bulldogs ensured the ending would be different as sophomore Isiah Johnson took the first play of the overtime for a 25-yard touchdown run. That run along with a pivotal defensive stand gave Ferris a 35-28 victory over Union City last night.
“We remembered what happened last week to us,” RB/LB Bryant Worts said in reference to Saturday’s 50-46 loss at Nutley. “We didn’t want the same outcome.”
It was a pair of unlikely heroes for the Bulldogs (2-1) in the overtime session. Johnson, who had just four rushing yards in regulation, was pressed into action late in the game with William Peters banged up.
Peters’ injury also forced Steve Le, the team’s quarterback, into a key role at corner. But the sophomore stood his ground in the extra session, making the tackle on a third down run and he defended on a pair of incomplete passes. On 4th and 7, the Soaring Eagles’ Pedro Aragon sought Dominick Montanez on a pass to the end zone, but Le had tight coverage on the play as the ball hit the turf to end a wild game.
“It was a big play for us,” Le said. “I had to win that game. I don’t know what else to say.”
“He doesn’t even practice defense much,” Valdez said. “But with Peters out and a couple of other kids looking shaky we went with him. He’s a confident kid and he did a nice job.”
Early on, it looked like it’d be an easy victory for Ferris as they took a 21-7 lead into the half as the duo of Worts and Peters combined for 213 rushing yards in the first two quarters.
With the rushing attack Union City (1-2) being shut down, head coach Joe Rotondi put the game in Aragon’s hands in the second quarter. Working out of a spread offense, Aragon justified his coach’s faith engineering as he completed 14-of-23 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown.
“They were geared to stop Dominick and they were geared to stop our run game,” Rotondi said. “I did what I thought was best for the team to win. We had to alter our game plan like a good team should.”
In the third quarter, Aragon connected with Mike Carrasco on passes of 10 and 15 yards to set up a Montanez rushing touchdown to cut the deficit down to just seven points.
Worts added his third rushing score of the game on a 1-yard plunge to open the fourth quarter to seemingly put the game on ice for the Bulldogs, but Aragon had other ideas.
On the ensuing drive, Aragon hit Montanez for a 29-yard pass. The senior QB followed that up with a 29-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, eluding a tackler just before reaching the goal line on a run that even surprised Rotondi.
After Union City stopped Johnson on a fourth down at midfield, Aragon needed only one play to tie the score. Marino Arias made a leaping catch on an Aragon throw at the 25-yard line and after eluding a would-be tackler, raced the rest of the way for a 47-yard score with 8:53 left in regulation.
“Based on film we knew (Aragon) could throw, but we didn’t think he had that much poise,” Valdez said. “It tells you a lot about the kid about being a gamer, a clutch kid and a confident kid.”
Aragon connected with five different receivers, including Montanez (five catches for 63 yards), Carrasco (four catches for 54 yards) and Arias (two catches for 73 yards). Montanez was limited to just 26 yards rushing after gaining more than 200 a week ago, but scored a pair of touchdowns.
Worts shouldered the rushing load for Ferris with 27 carries for 155 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Peters had 155 yards as well on 13 carries.
Pedro Aragon threw a touchdown and ran for a score in a fourth quarter comeback.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferris (2-1) | 7 |
14 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
35 |
| Union City (1-2) | 0 |
7 |
7 |
14 |
0 |
28 |
| F: Bryan Worts, 1 run (Brandon Fitch kick) | ||||||
| F: William Peters, 65 run (Fitch kick) | ||||||
| UC: Dominick Montanez, 5 run (Kevin Roman kick) | ||||||
| F: Worts, 3 run (Fitch kick) | ||||||
| UC: Montanez, 4 run (Roman kick) | ||||||
| F: Worts, 1 run (Fitch kick) | ||||||
| UC: Kevin Aragon, 29 run (Roman kick) | ||||||
| UC: Marino Arias, 47 pass from Aragon (Roman kick) | ||||||
| F: Isiah Johnson, 25 run (Fitch kick) | ||||||