It was a special night at Cranford’s Memorial Field as the Cougars celebrated their new turf field. That was just part of it, because before the long night and game with Scotch Plains-Fanwood was over, it really became a wild one.
With time running out in the fourth quarter, the lights went out at the field because of a transformer malfunction. In the dark, players, coaches, fans, cheerleaders and officials headed for various places. The players, officials and coaches headed for the Memorial Field locker rooms as a steady rain fell.
About 10 minutes later, the lights were restored, the rain gone and the game became even more memorable – unfortunately for Cranford, the night ended in a 26-24 loss – but not before some thrilling plays.
When the lights went out, the Cougars trailed 26-18, but junior quarterback Joseph Papandrea raced 15 yards for a touchdown after play resumed to pull his team to within 26-24. Papandrea’s 2-point conversion pass to senior Will Green just missed.
“They told us that he was in, but the ball wasn’t,’’ Cranford coach Erik Rosenmeier said. "They said the ball didn't break the plane.''
The Cougars had one last chance, though. Senior quarterback Chris Keim – who plays when the team goes to its two-minute offense -- threw a pass to junior Sean Trotter, who caught the ball at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood 45 and ran all the way to the Raider 10. But Scotch Plains-Fanwood star senior Gary Binkiewicz stripped the ball away from Trotter and the Raiders’ Quintin Blackwell recovered to end the threat with just seconds left in regulation.
“We were a fumble away from winning the game,’’ Rosenmeier said. “This is going to be a killer for these guys tomorrow. I thought we were going to win until the ref said the ball was theirs.’’
It was definitely heartbreaking.
“”There’s something about this team, I never believed that we weren’t going to win,’’ Rosenmeier said. “I said this is what we’re going to do. I said we’re going to score; we’re going to stop them and we’re going to go down the field and score. What’s great about this team is that’s its so unselfish.’’
Cranford opened the new field the best way possible. The Cougars took the opening kickoff and went on a 10-play, 62-yard touchdown drived that ended when Papandrea scored from a yard out and Robert Gaeta added the PAT.
""It took us four games to score our first touchdown last year,'' Rosenmeier said. ""But I know we were going to be better on offense than last year because of how hard we worked all summer, in the weight room, from the first day of practice. I thought we executed pretty well all night.''
Scotch Plains-Fanwood took a 14-7 lead on touchdowns by Binkiewicz – a 1-yard run, then his 48-yard run that was followed by his own two-point conversion. But Cranford battled back on Chris Witwick’s 34-yard kickoff return that sparked a 7-play 51-yard drive highlighted by Papandrea’s 22-yard pass to Green. Papandrea scored on a fourth-and-one to make it 14-13. The Cougars then took the lead when Gaeta picked up a botched hold and threw a two-point conversion pass to to Green for a 15-14 lead. Cranford then took a 18-14 lead when Gaeta kicked a 29-yard field goal with 7.6 seconds left until halftime.
But the Raiders – fueled by Binkiewicz – took the first possession of the second half and took the lead.
Binkiewicz threw a 52-yard pass to Mike Marsan to the Cougar 18 then threw a a 14-yard touchdown pass to Marsan for a 20-18 lead.
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