November 12, 2005Stamford Answers Alarmfrom The Stamford Advocate STAMFORD -- There are routine wake-up calls, such as an alarm clock sounding or the phone ringing or a baby crying. And then there are the more blaring kinds, you know, like a fire engine roaring past your bedroom window. Yesterday, with just over four minutes remaining against Trinity Catholic, the Stamford High School football team got one of the latter. When Trinity quarterback Anas Koummal snuck over for a touchdown and Eric Stephens added the two-point conversion run, the stunned Black Knights, once 14 points ahead, found themselves one point behind the underdog Crusaders. The Knights were 4:27 away from having to hand over the Paul Kuczo Memorial Trophy, which goes to the city champion each year, to their intracity rival. Stamford can retain the city title with a win over Westhill on Thanksgiving. "It was a wake-up call, all right," Stamford head coach Kevin Jones said of the one-point deficit his team faced. "I really have to credit the kids for realizing the situation." It took the Knights 21 seconds to respond. Two plays after falling behind, Chris Patterson capped another spectacular performance with a 27-yard touchdown run, and less than a minute later the Knights tacked on another score to emerge with a 27-15 victory at Boyle Stadium. "I was very shocked," Patterson said of the 15-14 predicament. "We looked like we were on our way to winning like 35-7 or something, and then we're behind. We probably got big-headed after getting ahead." After taking the 15-14 lead with 4:27 remaining following Stamford's third turnover of the second half, Trinity coach Bryan Fox continued his strategy of onside kickoffs to keep the ball away from Stamford's dangerous deep threats Alex Joseph, Dwight Davis, Terrell Dais and Ross Bertrand. But the Knights recovered at their own 46. On first down the Knights (5-4) gained 27 yards on a toss to Bertrand. On the next play Patterson, who rushed for 222 yards to crack the 1,000-mark (1,112) for the season after being held to minus-6 against Trinity last season, went around right end for 27 more and the go-ahead score. Patterson had touchdown runs of 73 and 31 yards in the second quarter to stake the Knights to a 14-0 lead. "Patterson is a great back," Fox said. "He can take it to the house anytime." . . . Even immediately after waking up! "We were definitely flat in the second half," Jones said. "We couldn't find a spark. It took Trinity scoring to wake us up." "Everyone was going crazy on the sideline after Trinity scored," Patterson added. "But I remained calm. I knew we'd get this." After Patterson's touchdown, the Crusaders (5-4) still had four minutes remaining, plenty of time for Koummal and the run-oriented attack led by Stephens, who had 74 of his 100 yards rushing in the second half. The Crusaders, despite a glaring size disadvantage in the trenches, rushed for 213 yards on 57 attempts (Stamford was 29-296) and controlled the clock (72 plays to 39). "One good thing today was that we found out we have a pretty good offensive line," Fox said. "Eric looked real good out there." Stephens, however, fumbled on first down and it was recovered by Stamford's Jesse Scalise, who was a terror on defense. It was Stephens' second fumble of the fourth quarter. Two plays later, Joseph handled a reverse -- "We wanted the ball in Alex's hands," Jones said -- and scooted 38 yards for the clinching score. "On the first fumble (at the SHS 39 with 6:45 remaining), I tried to switch hands and it slipped out," Stephens said. "The second one they held me up and it just came out." Of course, the Crusaders probably don't even get close yesterday if it weren't for Stephens. Stephens and Koummal were the heart and soul of the Crusaders' comeback. "We're probably the smallest team in the FCIAC, but we have a lot of heart," Koummal said. "The whole team left everything it had out on the field." On Trinity's second possession of the second half, following a Stamford fumble, Stephens capped a 34-yard drive with a 1-yard run. On Trinity's next possession, Matt Taccone fumbled -- one of five TC turnovers on the day -- but the Knights went 3-and-out. Trinity then reached the Stamford 39 before Stephens fumbled, but Patterson gave it right back with a fumble on first down -- one of four SHS turnovers -- at the SHS 47. On third-and-7 Koummal hit Andrew Shannon for 10 yards. Kyle Poti then ran for 17 before Stephens rumbled 16 yards to the 1. Koummal then scored and as the Crusaders prepared for the tying kick, the Knights jumped offsides. So Fox decided to go for 2. And when Stephens busted in giving the Crusaders the lead, the Trinity side erupted in jubilation. The only problem was that this green and gold celebration also served another purpose: the fire engine screaming past the sleeping Knights' bedroom window.
 Big senior defensive tackle Vladimir Joseph swims by an offensive lineman in a 28-20 home victory over Fairfield Ludlowe on October 29, 2005. (CrusaderNation.net / Dana Maul)
 Junior defensive tackle Santiago "Teggy" Steele wraps up a Darien
rusher as his
 Junior center Cory Johnson prepares to snap the ball to fellow classmate
 The Crusader offensive line pushes Bassick around in the mud. The
Crusaders
 Senior wideout Rob Hawthorn races downfield to block as junior fullback
Eric Stephens
 2005 All-FCIAC East Offense Row 1, Left to Right: Eric Wells, Bassick; Willie Epps, McMahon;
Pete Raymond,
 2005 All-FCIAC East Defense Row 1, Left to Right: Joe Luchesi, Danbury; Greg Sabo, Danbury; James
Taylor, Danbury;
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