BRONX, N.Y. — Dylan Campili's usually reliable hands became two of the biggest concerns for
Fort Hamilton (Brooklyn) during the final practice prior to his team's 2010 PSAL Championship matchup with Lincoln.
Four drops on the Tigers' finest 2-point conversion play came at the most inopportune of times, certainly, leaving Campili plagued by doubts moments before coach Daniel Diaz called his number after Fort Hamilton scored the tying touchdown Tuesday night.
"When coach called it, everything went through my head," Campili said. "I just kept thinking I've got to catch it."
Ultimately, Yankee Stadium provided a house of redemption for Campili and his senior teammates in the first high school game played in the famed billion-dollar baseball park. Campili caught the game-deciding 2-point pass with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter, the deciding points in Fort Hamilton's 8-6 victory over Lincoln that gave them their first PSAL title since 2006 after faltering in two of the last three championship games.
"He couldn't catch a cold yesterday," Diaz said with a laugh.
MaxPreps' New York football playoff bracketsGood fortune finally shined upon Fort Hamilton (13-0) after three consecutive undefeated regular seasons failed to offer Campili and his teammates the joy of a championship celebration like they enjoyed on Yankee Stadium's celebrated turf. Those failures yielded this year's theme of "Finish," which the Tigers did in finally winning their elusive crown.
For a while Tuesday night under the Yankee Stadium lights, Lincoln (12-1) looked like the team destined to go back to Brooklyn with its first PSAL crown - this just two years after going 1-8. After struggling early, the Railsplitters used an epic 21-play, 95-yard drive over 12:15 to take a 6-0 halftime lead when junior
Kareem Folkes plunged in from a yard out just 2 seconds before the break.
On Lincoln's long march, it converted two fourth downs as Folkes (12 carries, 39 yards) and senior
Andrew Vital (eight carries, 47 yards; 1-for-1, six yards passing) dominated the ball behind an offensive line that neutralized Fort Hamilton's defensive front. Although the Railsplitters' 2-point conversion run was snuffed, they still took a 6-0 lead into the locker room.
"I put it on my offensive linemen," Lincoln coach Shawn O'Connor said. "I told them, 'You've got to finish. Derek Jeter doesn't get this many at-bats in a game.'"
Fort Hamilton started the second half on defense, stopping Lincoln after a 10-play directive got the Railsplitters to the Tigers' 24. After a three-and-out, Fort Hamilton recovered a fumble on the first play of Lincoln's ensuing drive, giving the Tigers the ball on the opposition's 45.
"It was a big turning point," Lincoln senior
Wayne Williams admitted.
After sophomore
Thaddeus Stroud ripped off 24 yards on the next three plays, Fort Hamilton finally found paydirt when junior
Marvin Centeno floated a perfect ball to big-play senior
Brandon Reddish, who easily beat the Lincoln secondary for a 26-yard touchdown that forged a 6-6 tie.
"Marvin put a perfect pass up there," said Reddish, the game MVP. "I just had to get it."
Once the Tigers celebrated their first touchdown, then came the matter of seizing the lead. Diaz dialed up his best 2-point conversion pass, which saw Centeno roll right and put the pigskin on Campili's hands at the goal line. Campili squeezed the ball and crossed the plane, staking Fort Hamilton to a two-point advantage.
From there, Lincoln went three-and-out on its next two series of what often proved to be a tense defensive struggle: Fort Hamilton managed just 142 yards, while the Railsplitters gained just 34 of their 132-yard tally in the second half.
Meanwhile, Fort Hamilton maintained possession for all but 1:50 of the fourth quarter because, as Diaz noted, "We wanted to control the clock." It even led to a rare fourth-and-59 in the final minute, but a punt pinned the Railsplitters in their territory with 10 seconds left.
Lincoln never gained another yard, ending a run that seemed so improbable prior to this season. Instead, the Railsplitters watched as Fort Hamilton celebrated its third PSAL championship.
"It feels good just to finish," Stroud said. "That was the key word, just to finish."
