Tigers Win by a Finger-Tip, Finish Season 6-6

By Greg Pecko

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA - The Marple Newtown Tigers (6-6) escaped Friday night with a win by a finger tip over the Academy Park Knights (7-5).

With the score being 17-10 in favor of the Tigers Friday with only a little over two minutes left on the clock the Tigers made a mistake that set up probably the most memorable win of the 2008 campaign.

Junior quarterback Kevin Johnson fumbled the football on what looked to be a questionable call by the officials. However, after the dust cleared the Knights had the football and were on the Tigers' doorstep.

From there it would be up to the Tigers' defense and special teams to make something special happen in order to end the season at five hundred.

The Knights ran several plays that ran the clock down to a minute and they would finally punch the ball into the end-zone on a quarterback draw with only fifty seconds remaining. At that point it appeared as if the season may have to be extend into an overtime contest.

Unless the Tigers' special teams unit, which had already blocked a combine six field goal and extra point attempts, had other plans to end the night right on time. Under wet conditions the Knights lined-up an point after attempt and after a high snap the Tigers burst in on the right side of the line and two tigers were able to tip the ball, which float toward, but fell just short of the cross-bar making the score 17-16.

For the Tigers' this spelled victory as they went on to recover the onside kick and then came out in the victory formation to kneel the ball twice ending the season on high note a 6-6. The Tigers' finished this season by winning five straight games and six of their final seven of the season.

Friday nights win was fueled by a strong ground game led by Senior running backs Phil Graziano and Nick Stephens on the offensive side of the football. Additionally, Stephens and Senior Dan Giordano rallied their defensive squad in the second half which helped bring the Tigers back from an early 10-3 deficit.

For the 2008 Tigers football program the season came full-circle as they were able to recover from a rough start of the year with a young squad. As the season progressed a team that had 32 underclassmen including 21 sophomores was able to build confidence and chemistry, which led to a stellar end to the season.