Southern Maine 6 @ New York 28
Staten Island, New York, June 4, 2005
For once it was a nice warm sunny day for a home game as the New York Sharks (7-0) took on the Southern Maine Rebels (6-2) in Staten Island. The game had a playoff atmosphere as this game would help determine who would win the North Atlantic division. The Sharks were in first place, but the Rebels were a close second, only 1/2 game behind. Earlier in the season the Sharks easily handled the ladies from Maine, beating them 32-6, but in that game the Rebels played without one of their stars, running back Becky Manson. Since that loss Southern Maine has gone on to win 5 games in a row. The Rebles were feeling confident coming into this game.
The Sharks on the other hand were coming off an ugly win in which they turned the ball over 5 times in the second half to the Bay State Warriors. But with a bye week to help them try and forget that game the Sharks seemed up to the challenge.
The game started with former WNBA New York Liberty star Kym Hampton singing the National Anthem. During the coin toss, Southern Maine won and elected to receive.
All year the Sharks defense has played well and they did so in the first series. They stopped Southern Maine from advancing and forced them to punt. After the punt, the Sharks were in decent field position on the Rebels’ 44-yard line. New York quarterback Val Halesworth showed that her legs are just as dangerous as her arm as she ran the ball twice for a gain of 25 yards. It looked like New York was on track to score but Manson intercepted a Halesworth pass and returned it all the way to the Southern Maine 47-yard line. She might have gone all the way, but Halesworth was able to catch up and push Manson out of bounds.
The New York defense held and the offense quickly got the ball back. Despite the interception, Halesworth went to the air, she connected with Junko Tanida who grabbed the ball after it had been tipped by a Rebel defender. Halesworth than ran for 21 yards to move the ball all the way down to the Southern Maine 18-yard line. But here the offense stalled and gave the Rebels the ball back on a turnover of downs.
The offense was starting to sputter again as the second quarter started. Many a time it is the defense that can spark the offense and it started here. On three consecutive plays, the Sharks’ defense dropped the Rebels for a 2 yard loss each time. On fourth down, Southern Maine punted the ball to give New York the ball on the Rebels’ 42-yard line.
As the Sharks offense came out, there were a few changes made by head coach Lynn Lewis. One was putting in Teresa Schirrippa in as running back. Schirrippa has missed most of the first half of the season finishing up her second year of college. She got into a few plays the previous game but has not been much of a factor this season. That all changed as she was given the ball and bulldozed her way for a 5 yard gain. She then got the ball again and slashed her way for a 10 yard gain. On the third attempt, she got the ball on a pitchout to the right from Halesworth. Schirrippa was immediately met by a Rebel defender behind the line of scrimmage. She quickly broke the tackle and then slipped another tackle before turning on her afterburners and ran in to the endzone for a nifty 24 yard run. Kicker Nikki Gwinnett split the uprights to give the Sharks a 7-0 lead with 8:35 remaining in the second quarter.
Southern Maine tried to get right back in to the game on the ensuing kick-off. Going to the air the Rebels were able to move down the field to the Sharks 13-yard line. But with time running out in the half, the Rebels could not get into the endzone. They almost scored on a halfback option play where Brooke Peters ran to her right and then stopped to throw the ball to Manson in the endzone. Liz “Magic” Presto was covering Manson and was able to use her hand to slap the ball away from its intended target.
The third quarter began with the Sharks receiving the kick-off. Jen Blum returned the kick to the New York 48-yard line. Since it worked so well in the first half, the Sharks continued to give the ball to Schirrippa. On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Schirrippa was able to pick up 3 yards. Shauntay Stewart who is coming off pre-season surgery got the ball next and picked up another 3 yards. Halesworth then shifted gears a bit and hit Virginia “Cha Chi” Leon on a slant pattern for a 14-yard gain. Leon was on the receiving end of another 14 yard gain on the next play. The ball was now in the red zone when Halesworth turned the corner for a 7 yard gain. With the ball resting on the Rebels’ 11-yard line, Schirrippa was called and she ran into the endzone with her second touchdown of the day. The kick on the extra point attempt went wide, but the Sharks were now ahead 13-0 with 9:50 left in the third quarter.
New York started to look like they were in the driver’s seat as the defense continued to stone wall the Rebels running attack and the offense was starting to click. Later in the third quarter the Sharks started their drive on their own 31-yard line. Stewart who was playing in her very first game as fullback, rumbled for 14 yards. Halesworth then connected with Blum for a 14-yard air strike. Next Schirrippa touched the ball twice but could only pick up 6 yards. So on a third down play on the the Southern Maine 32-yard line, Halesworth dropped back into the pocket and found a wide-open Courtney Eaton. She hit Eaton with the pass and New York had now extended their lead 19-0. Gwinnett kicked the extra point to now make the score 20-0 with 13:05 left in the game.
After another 3 and out by the Sharks defense, New York got the ball back on a punt. They were able to move the ball to midfield, before the Rebels forced the Sharks to punt. But on the punt, Southern Maine got hit with a roughing the kicker penalty and New York got the ball back. That penalty gave the Sharks the ball on the Rebels 27-yard line and New York quickly made Maine regret their miscue. Schirrippa was given the ball and she turned the corner and ran into the endzone for the touchdown. On the extra point attempt, the snap bounced in front of the holder Halesworth who quickly got up and found an open Lisa Doran in the endzone for 2 more points. With 3:00 left in the game, the Sharks were comfortably ahead 28-0.
The game was out of reach for Southern Maine but they did not quit. They still have a very good chance for the playoffs and they were looking for a morale victory, by at least not being shutout. With two minutes left in the game, quarterback Mariette Harpole went deep and hit Manson for a 65-yard touchdown pass. Southern Maine then went for the 2 point conversion but as Harpole was looking for an open receiver, Leon came in and sacked the quarterback before she could get the pass off. This made the final score 28-6 in favor of the Sharks.
It was an important win for the Sharks as it makes it very difficult for the Rebels to win the North Atlantic division title. The only way that Southern Maine could win the title is for the Sharks to lose the last 3 games of the season and the Rebels have to win their remaining 2 games of the year.
A game ball was given to the defense for their great playing. They held the vaunted Rebels running attack to 35 yards. The offensive game ball went to Teresa Schirrippa. Schirrippa scored 3 touchdowns and ran the ball 9 times for 116 yards. Her three touchdowns were one shy of tying the team record of four touchdowns in a game, held by Schirrippa and Lakisha Grant. Halesworth had a good day too. She completed 7 of 12 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown and also ran for 71 yards on 6 carries.
The Sharks will host the Manchester Freedom next week on Saturday, June 11th. A victory by New York will clinch the North Atlantic title for the Sharks and guarantee them a spot in the playoffs. Kick-off time is 7pm at Monsignor Farrell High School. If you cannot make it to the game, you can still follow all the hard hitting football action. Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell will describe all of the action on our flagship radio station KEDU-FM.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Southern Maine Rebels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
New York Sharks | 0 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 28 |
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
NY – (08:35) Schirrippa 24 yard run (Gwinnett kick)
Third Quarter
NY – (09:50) Schirrippa 11 yard run (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter
NY – (13:05) Eaton 32 yard pass from Halesworth (Gwinett kick)
NY – (03:00) Schirrippa 27 yard run (Doran pass from Halesworth)
SM – (02:01) Manson 65 yard pass from Harpole (pass failed)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.