South Lakes Survives Late Scare To Defeat Yorktown In First Round of Football Playoffs

By BRIAN McNICOLL

You want some story about tough guys who knew they had it all the time? This is not the place to look.

“Scared? Low-key heck yeah,” said South Lakes High senior defensive lineman Jonathan Vazquez-Maldonado. “Like almost heart attack scared.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried,” added Chris Kishomoto, a senior two-way lineman who spent the week in a boot but went full speed on Friday night.

“These guys say they love me, but they put me through some kind of cardiac kid stuff every week,” said Coach Jason Hescock.

But you know who was really scared? Eric Kowalczyk. The senior defensive back had been assigned to keep his eye on No. 84 – Yorktown’s 6-foot-5 tight end Brady Owens – and he thought he had let Owens get open.

“Honestly, I thought he was past me,” Kowalcyzk said. ”I thought it was too late. I stuck my hand out … and the pass just hit my hand.”

Kowalczyk got just enough of the ball to make it fall incomplete on the last play of the game and the Seahawks survived another late comeback by the Patriots to win 24-17 and advance to the Region 6A semifinals.

The Seahawks, now 6-5, will play Friday night at Westfield, 8-3, which avenged an earlier loss to Washington-Liberty with a 56-28 victory in its first-round game..

It was the second time Yorktown had played South Lakes this year and the second time it had ended in tragedy for the Patriots. On Aug. 28, South Lakes hung on to win, 29-28, when a field goal attempt in the closing seconds hit the upright at Pat Bergen Stadium in Reston.

The scripts were even eerily similar – Yorktown jumped out to a lead against a slow-starting South Lakes offense, then the Seahawks stormed back to take the lead, then gave the Patriots one last chance that they almost cashed in.

This time the Seahawks fell behind, 10-0, in the second quarter only to score two touchdowns in the final 51 seconds of the first half to take a 14-10 lead to the locker room. South Lakes scored again to make it 21-10, then Yorktown answered to make it 21-17. A 23-yard field goal by Nick Bertoni widened the margin but also did not put the Patriots away.

The South Lakes defense thought it had put the Patriots away six plays later when Yorktown quarterback Samson Schneider’s 4th-and-10 pass at the South Lakes 42 fell incomplete with 1:15 left.

But Yorktown had all its timeouts left and got the ball back at its own 49 with 44 seconds left. Schneider hit Boston Izzo for 11 yards, then Alex Hans for 30 yards to the South Lakes 11. Schneider then scrambled out of bounds at the five on first down, but only five seconds remained in the game.

He had one last chance. He scrambled left, saw his big tight end and delivered a pass that was on line and in step. Kowalczyk’s outstretched hand knocked it just out of the receiver’s reach, and the game was over.

“I almost got picked on the play. I had to find him again,” Kowalczyk said. ”He’s a really big guy … they had a lot of really big guys … but we were ready for the challenge.”

The Seahawks were ready for the challenge in a lot of ways on Friday night. Their kickoff return game – a silent but deadly part of their attack – was at full strength. After Nick Picarelli almost broke one and Joshua Dagbe got even closer to breaking one, reaching the South Lakes 47, Yorktown gave up and started squibbing its kickoffs.

The rushing game returned as well. Senior running back Dalton Blakeney, who had 56 yards his last three games, had 17 on his first carry against Yorktown and finished with 62 on 21 hard-fought carries. Junior quarterback Christian Wyatt added 72 on 11 as the Seahawks rushed for 160 yards, its highest total since a 178-yard game against Oakton in Week 6.

“O line showed up in a huge way tonight,” said Blakeney, who scored only his second touchdown in the last five weeks. “We had the traps and the power game working tonight.”

Blakeney’s touchdown capped a 61-yard drive and came after he twice had been stopped short on fourth down attempts. It got the Seahawks back to within 10-7.

Schneider had pulled off two big runs for the Patriots, but by that point the Seahawks had begun to corral him. And on the first play after Blakeney’s touchdown, Sebastian Valencia sacked Schneider for a 9-yard loss. On the next play, Schneider threw an out-route to Sammy Keiser, who was hit hard and fumbled, giving the Seahawks the ball with 26 seconds left.

Three plays later Wyatt hit George Zarechnak for a touchdown on the last play of the first half to put the Seahawks ahead to stay.

South Lakes then controlled the ball nearly nine minutes of the third quarter, delivering one score when Wyatt hit Dagbe for a 16-yard score in which Dagbe pushed the pile into the end zone for the final five yards.

The Patriots closed to 21-17 thanks to a pass interference penalty, two big catches from Owens and an 8-yard competition to Alex Hans. Another long South Lakes drive in the fourth quarter consumed more than five minutes and ended on Bertoni’s ninth field goal of the season and set the stage for the remarkable ending.

“So many people had to step up for us tonight," said Dagbe. "Our defense forced two fumbles. Our offense made the plays. O line had a terrific game. We pride ourselves on picking each other up, and it really happened tonight."

South Lakes 0 14 7 3 – 24
Yorktown 7 3 0 7 – 21
Y-Thomas Tranfa, 1 run (Max Yoon kick)
Y-Yoon, FG 41
SL-Dalton Blakeney, 3 run (Nick Bertoni kick)
SL-George Zarechnak, 11 pass from Christian Wyatt (Bertoni kick)
SL-Joshua Dagbe, 16 pass from Wyatt (Bertoni kick)
Y-Alex Harrisd, 8 pass from Samson Schneider (Yoon kick)
SL-Bertoni, FG 23

SL Y
First Downs 14 15
Rushes-Yards 39-160 23-83
Passing Yards 252 214
Passes (A-C-I) 28-23-1 31-21-0
Punts-Average 1-35 2-38
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-2
Penalties-Yards 13-107 4-50

RUSHING – South Lakes: Blakeney 21-62, Wyatt 11-72, Nick Picarelli 6-17, Dagbe 1-9. Yorktown: Schneider 12-62, Jack Ezzeddin 5-14, Tranfa 4=15, Hans 1-minus 8, Colt Monticello 1-4.
PASSING – South Lakes: Wyatt 28-23-1, 252 yards, 2 TDs. Yorktown: Schneider 21-21-0, 214 yards, 1 TD.
RECEIVING – South Lakes: Picarelli 12-113, Blakeney 3-30, Dagbe 4-74, TD; Zarechnak 4-35, TD. Yorktown: Monticello 6-35, Sammy Keiser 3-14, Hans 5-74, Brady Owens 3-42, Boston Izzo 1-11, Andrew Cole 2-7.