By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
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There are upsets and unlikely stories and fairytale endings.
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And then there is the saga of the Auburn High football team in the 2006 New York State Class AA tournament.
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The Maroons, long overshadowed in the central region by teams in Syracuse, weren't even supposed to be in the tournament, only filling in at the last minute when another team was disqualified from the Section 3 playoffs.
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Once in the tournament, Auburn had to overcome a 20-point deficit in one game, three turnovers in another, then have defending AA champ Monroe-Woodbury return the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown on Saturday in the Class AA final at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
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Oh yes, Auburn also missed a PAT kick in the first overtime in the championship game that appeared to give Monroe-Woodbury the chance to extend the game to a second OT period and extend its state-best winning streak to 25 games.
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Not on your life. Not in this story.
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A roughing-the-kicker penalty gave Auburn (10-3) a second chance to finish its improbable tale in the first overtime. Matt Hoey did just that, driving his kick through the uprights and giving the Maroons a 27-26 win over Monroe-Woodbury for their first state crown.
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"I was hoping (the game) would come down to a kick," Hoey told the Auburn Citizen. "I just felt terrible after the first one. I knew I couldn't do that again."
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"We had the heart and determination to get it done when everyone doubted us,'' said Auburn wide receiver Jeff Richardson. "Now we're New York State champions - that's everything in the world right there."
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The Auburn/Monroe-Woodbury final drew a New York State tournament record crowd of over 15,000 to the Dome, 10,000 of whom were estimated to have come from the nearby Auburn area.
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What they saw, the conclusion they witnessed, will be talked about for years to come, maybe even decades.
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Monroe-Woodbury (12-1) hadn't lost since the 2004 Class AA semifinals against New Rochelle. The Section 9 Crusaders were on a seemingly undeniable run late in the fourth quarter and in overtime, when they rallied to tie the game at 20-20 with a minute left in regulation, then scored on just three plays in the first OT to take a 26-20 lead.
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But Monroe-Woodbury's PAT kick in overtime was missed, leaving the door ajar one final time for Auburn to work its miracle playoff formula.
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Darnell Murphy threw 20 yards to Richardson in Auburn's half of the first OT to tie the game again at 26. Though Hoey missed his kick on the first try to win it, his second attempt ended the wild affair.
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"This game was amazing," Monroe-Woodbury running back David Landesberg told the Middletown Times-Herald-Record.
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ÿAuburn's Murphy earned his second game MVP award in the state tournament. He completed 10-of-15 passes for 176 yards and rushed for another 54. He also had seven tackles on defense and broke up a pass.
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"For months I've gone straight from home to teaching to coaching," said Auburn coach Dave Moskov. "I haven't had time to find out what any of this means. Ask me in two weeks. I understand we won the state championship but I don't understand the magnitude of what we did."
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Dobbs Ferry Wins One for "Mac"
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Just six months after its coach, Jim Mackenzie, died of a heart attack, perennial Section 1 champion Dobbs Ferry won its third state title in five years on Saturday, defeating Section 6 representative Falconer, 24-0, at the Carrier Dome in the Class C final.
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Mackenzie originally spent three seasons as a Dobbs Ferry assistant coach before taking over as head coach in 2005. He led the Eagles to the state final last fall, where they lost to Section 4's Sidney.
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"From the moment he died, our goal was to get here and win it for him," junior Frank Scatteretico told the Journal News. "He was looking down on us every day. Right now, he's smiling."
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"On the bus ride up, they were showing clips of him on the TV and I just kept tearing up," junior quarterback Trevor Saunders said. "I still remember the heartbreaking look on his face in the locker room after last year. I kept that in my head all game."
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Dobbs Ferry (12-0), which was coached by Chris Wagner this season, held Falconer (10-3) to 37 yards of offense in the first half. The majority of the Golden Falcons' 116 total yards for the game came on a third-quarter drive that ended with Dobbs Ferry's Matt Ferrari and Ryan Fleming combining on a tackle at the Eagles' 9, with Falconer a yard short of a first down.
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Fleming had nine tackles while Tommy Petito, the game's MVP, added eight as Dobbs Ferry posted its fifth shutout of the season.
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"It's so hard to really describe how we're feeling right now," Ferrari said. "Between losing last year, the seniors playing their last game and with the big guy looking down on us, words can't explain how this feels."
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Corning East Takes Class A
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Corning East captured its first-ever state football title on Friday in Syracuse, downing Cornwall, 27-14, in a battle between Section 4 and Section 9 champs.
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Despite facing its first halftime deficit (14-13) of the season, Corning held Cornwall scoreless over the final two quarters and scored 14 unanswered points over the final 24 minutes to cap a 13-0 season.
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Quarterback and game MVP Coleman Flory provided a bulk of the offense for Corning, rushing for three touchdowns and 176 yards as the 2006 Trojans joined the school's 1990 boys lacrosse team and 1995 baseball team as state champions.
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"It's as high as you can get in high school and I'm just living it up," Flory told the Corning Leader. "It's awesome."
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Class B Title Goes to Geneva
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Given a second chance to make a first big impression on the state championship stage, Geneva (Section 5) accomplished its goal, capturing the Class B title with a 33-7 win over Albany Academy.
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Geneva (11-2) had reached the final at the Carrier Dome a year ago, only to lose.
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"Besides having my kids get married, this is the best feeling I've had," Geneva coach Dave Whitcomb told the Finger Lakes Times. "It's kind of surreal. You dream about moments like this as a coach. To finally achieve it is an unbelievable feeling."
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Game MVP Brian Fowler carried the ball 26 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns. Fullback Jeremiah Allen ran for 75 yards on 10 carries. Bobby Martin completed 4 of 8 passes for 100 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown to Tremaine Green. Ronnie Collins caught two passes for 60 yards.
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Albany Academy (12-1) came into the game averaging 45 points a game. Geneva limited the Cadets to 213 yards total offense and tailback Dion Lewis to 75 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Pat Lyman completed 11 of 22 passes for 101 yards.
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Geneva's Green, the defensive MVP, led the Panthers with seven tackles, picked off a pass and broke up another. Cheagan Wilson added six stops, recovered a fumble and had 1 1/2 tackles for a loss. Andy Torruella and Jimmy Warner each added five stops.
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Tuckahoe Captures First Crown in Class D
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Leading by only a touchdown midway through the final period, Section 1's Tuckahoe (10-1) put together a five-minute drive that took Oakfield-Alabama out of the game and ultimately sealed the Class D title for the Tigers in a 27-14 win in Syracuse.
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"I knew we were going to win; this was destiny," Tuckahoe coach John D'Arco told the Journal News. "We've battled through all year, all the ups and downs. This team was destined to win."
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Lowell Robinson capped the game-clinching drive, scoring off a 14-yard run on a fourth-and-2 with 1:02 left in regulation. His interception in the end zone with six seconds remaining closed out the win.
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Robinson rushed for 143 yards on 24 carries, caught three passes for 25 yards and threw a touchdown. The senior running back, however, was overshadowed by the performance from Joseph Melendez.
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Melendez, Tuckahoe's junior quarterback, completed 14 of 20 passes for 119 yards, caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Robinson and ran for two more scores.
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The effort earned Melendez the game's MVP award, an honor that eluded him in last week's semifinal, when he scored three touchdowns in Tuckahoe's come-from-behind 22-19 win over Section 7's Ticonderoga.
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"Tuckahoe is a team that's been here three times," Oakfield coach John Dowd said, whose team qualified for the tournament by winning Section 5. "They weren't going to leave without their first state title."
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--- Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com master photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island region and a Northeast region columnist. He may be reached at j.stout@jmstout.org ---