Beyond The X: Hurricane Sandy doesn't foil Point Pleasant Beach's dream season

A balloon that popped
On Nov. 30, the Garnet Gulls welcomed Florence to the field named after Donald T. Fioretti, a longtime coach at Point Pleasant Beach and the grandfather of the starting quarterback. Wagner and his staff were concerned about the Flashes' power running game and physical defense, which proved to be prescient.

At first, it looked like Point Pleasant Beach was on its way to another lopsided win when it drove right down the field and scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Fioretti to Cochran in the first quarter.

Florence answered with a 12-play, 51-yard drive to take a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter. It looked like the Flashes might become the first team all season to lead Point Pleasant Beach at halftime before Fioretti tossed his second touchdown pass of the game, hitting senior tight end Nick Fiore with a 26-yard strike. Samaritano then ran in a 2-point conversion to give the Garnet Gulls a 14-7 lead at the break.

Florence tied the game in the third quarter when Fioretti was hit as he threw, and the interception was returned 36 yards for a touchdown by Florence defensive back Eric Chapman to knot it up at 14.

On Point Pleasant Beach's next possession, Tighe, who led the Shore Conference with 1,569 yards rushing, took a helmet to his right leg and writhed on the ground in agonizing pain. He was the team's Superman, an all-around playmaker who was averaging better than 13 yards a carry for the season.

"I heard it snap, and I just knew it wasn't good,'' Tighe said. "I never expected my senior year to end like that.''

"Losing Danny Tighe in the third quarter was heartbreaking for our kids,'' Wagner said. "It was very emotional for us on the sideline and in the huddles for the next six or eight minutes. The kids really lost their composure for a period of time.''

Tighe was taken off the field on a cart in tears for what turned out to be a broken right fibula. He remained on the sideline in pain on the cart with his leg immobilized for the rest of the game before going to the hospital because he wanted to stay with his team.

With Tighe out of the game, Florence continued to bottle up Point Pleasant Beach's potent running attack, which only managed 88 yards for the night. The Flashes eventually drove to Point Pleasant Beach's 10-yard line to set up a 33-yard field goal by kicker Doug MacArthur for a 17-14 lead with 5:48 left in the game.

The Garnet Gulls had one final shot when they got the ball at their own 25-yard line with 2:41 left in the game. The Hollywood ending seemed imminent when Fioretti hit Samaritano on the run and he sprinted 70 yards to the Florence 5-yard line as the home crowd roared. However, a clipping penalty at midfield negated the play.

Fioretti kept the home team's hopes alive when he converted a fourth-and-17 by finding Samaritano crossing the field. Four plays later, Point Pleasant Beach was at the Flashes' 18-yard line and the stands were shaking.

Facing a third-and-10 with no timeouts remaining, Fioretti tried to run for a first down as the seconds trickled into the single digits. He was tackled short of the marker and looked up in anguish as time ran out on his team's dream season. A week later, Florence beat Shore Regional 23-17 in double overtime to win the Central Jersey Group I title.

"I saw our quarterback get tackled on the last play, and it was just all the air and all the energy that had built up in you through the past three weeks just got let out,'' Kusma said. "You were a balloon that popped. You could see it in a lot of kids' faces for the next few moments. It's a moment I don't want to relive.''

"It literally was like the movie ‘Friday Night Lights,''' Bruce Fioretti said. "We had all been through so much, and they came so close, but came up just short at the end."

There would be no Cinderella ending, and there would be no more school history. Players hugged one another and sobbed uncontrollably. Tears flowed in the stands.

"When the game ended, I've never been on a field before with such a devastating feeling,'' Wagner said. "What was coming out of their mouths was, ‘What are we going to do now? We didn't get this done.' I think the football season kind of masked the devastation for obviously the players and also a lot of people in the stands.''

"After the game, I thought I was pretty good, but then seeing everybody else, I broke down,'' D'Amore said. "We were living the dream, and we never thought it would end that way.''

Living in a hotel, staring at a foreign ceiling in bed at night in an unfamiliar house or dragging cherished belongings to the curb all seemed a little bit easier to handle when there was another game to look forward to.

"That pile of debris in front of your house, it's real now,'' Bruce Fioretti said.

"It was back to reality, back to living our lives,'' Cochran said.

The hourglass had officially been tipped on the time left together for a group of players who formed a special bond. Fiore and Morris are both joining the U.S. Marine Corps, while some other seniors will go their separate ways.

"I could be on the other side of the world at this time next year,'' Morris said. "Knowing I will never put a Beach football helmet on again is the hardest part. Now it's time to move on to the next chapter of our lives.''