Amidst the hugs, chest bumps, and chants of “Whaler Pride” during a delirious post-game celebration of New London’s 27-26 last-play miracle victory over Montville, Whaler captain Rich Vitale took on a serious tone.
“I don’t care what anyone says, everything went against us,” Vitale said. “We were without our quarterback and tight end. Everything was against us, and the game should not have went like that. Yes, we hurt ourselves by fumbling a kickoff and the fumbled snap, but I’m not happy with how things went.”
Vitale, an All-State running back-safety candidate, did his part, gaining 120 yards on 31 carries and scoring two touchdowns. Ultimately, Whaler Nation got the win and a legendary moment to last a lifetime when receiver Garrick McQueen’s catch of a Montville-deflected interception bid and subsequent 55-yard TD on the game’s last play.
So why was Vitale venting? Because he forecasted that Monday morning bloggers would say the Whalers were lucky to leave Canamella Field Nov. 7 as the area’s only unbeaten team. Some blogs and comments said Montville botched its time management unsuccessfully trying to run out the clock. That McQueen’s catch from freshman quarterback Casey Cochran should have been knocked down instead of sophomore Skyler McNair, sooner or later to be an All-Area player or better, trying to make his second interception of the game.
Both coaches agree McQueen’s catch was a gift on par with Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception or a basketball half-court heave going in. Cochran called it a “one-in-a-million play.” Montville coach Tanner Grove said the Indians got beat “on a play you see once every 50 years.”
Down deep, Vitale feels under normal circumstances, New London would have been the team taking a knee to run out the clock. With a healthy Jordan Reed and Anthony Schiavone, or just Reed playing quarterback, New London would have handled the unbeaten Indians, Vitale believes.
Visualing a full-strength New London against Montville, it’s hard to argue that point. Hopefully, we may not have to speculate. The 3,000 in attendance and countless more ECC football fans may get another opportunity to see if that opinion pans out.
The Whalers and Indians stood first and fourth, respectively, in CIAC Class SS playoff rankings. If both teams win out—New London faces tough games against Ledyard Nov. 20 and NFA on Thanksgiving and Montville needs to beat St. Bernard with the Small Division title on the line Nov. 27—it’s quite likely they’ll return to Canamella for the state semifinals.
It’s impossible to expect Cochran, a freshman, to perform and attack defenses with the precision and talent of Reed, the Florida Gator-bound senior. Montville held NL to less than 200 total yards of offense. Reed’s presence would put triple the pressure on Montville’s secondary. The prospect of Montville single-covering Phil Singleton, McQueen, Schiavone, and Jeremy Dubose in the four-wide set would open up running lanes for Vitale, who is approaching 1,000 yards, and Reed, a dangerous runner himself at 6-3, 230 pounds.
Montville brought all of its thoroughbreds and still needed to force turnovers to ignite a furious fourth-quarter comeback, 19 points in less than seven minutes, against the Reed-less Whalers.
Conversely, Montville can gain confidence that its defense played very well against what was still a quality unit that blew out Windham the prior week. New London also received three major breaks to score: a Montville fumble inside the 10-yard line, recovering a kickoff that Montville failed to recover, and McQueen’s miracle catch.
Plus, Indian sophomore back Tyler Girard-Floyd was never fully exploited for various reasons. He served mostly as a decoy in the first half as Montville encountered blocking problems and center snap miscues. The area’s leading rusher (more than 1,600 yards) and scorer (21 touchdowns in nine games) carried just 10 times for 60 yards and still scored two touchdowns. If there is a rematch, everyone would expect Montville to make it a point to establish dominance early.
If the teams don’t meet again or play in opposite semifinals and either fails to advance, then at least we’ll have the privilege of “Lightning” McQueen’s game-winning play and the surreal atmosphere of the game’s final moments.
About 200 Montville students and fans were poised to charge Canamella Field after the game, walking out to the track behind the Indian bench. Chants of “9-0! 9-0!” grew louder and louder as Cochran (4 of 17, 79 yards) threw two incompletions and a 10-yarder to McQueen to set up a last play with four seconds left.
“I thought they had no time-outs, but when I knew they had one, I wanted to run the clock all the way down as far as I could, punt and make them go 80 yards in 12 seconds,” Grove said. “Those aren’t very good odds for them.”
But McNair and Montville safety Jesse Sutherland converged on Cochran’s heave, collided, and the ball somehow dropped in the hands of McQueen in full stride with open field ahead. In the matter of seconds, Montville’s magical moment of euphoria was kicked in the teeth by the sudden jolt of reality that the victory was snatched away. Montville’s fans froze and eventually dejectedly retreated to their cars instead of charging the field. Indian players dropped to the turf, some crying hysterically as if they had been shot. New London’s bench ran to the end zone to mob McQueen. Whaler fans emptied the bleachers and charged the field, rejoicing at the miracle play. Coach Cochran gave an audition for “Dancing with the Stars” prancing around the field while offering condolences and reassurance to Montville’s distraught players.
Vitale didn’t see the play, fearing the worst.
“I was blocking, saw the pass heaved in the air, saw the bobble, and then closed my eyes,” Vitale said. “I heard Montville’s fans scream and then ours scream. It was like Rudy or some other sports movie with an ending you’d never believe. Just an unbelievable ending. I’m not happy it came down to that, but we can take one thing out of it, never give up.”
By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times