According to Trinity football coach Jeff Devanney, "an onside kick is a little bit of execution and a little bit of luck."
On Saturday afternoon, Trinity certainly had some luck on its side as it recovered an onside kick to help hand Williams a painful 26-21 defeat. Trinity junior quarterback Craig Drusbosky threw two touchdown passes in the last 1:48 of regulation in what has become the latest chapter of a storied rivalry.
"Trinity and Williams has traditionally been a great rivalry," said Devanney, who spent his playing days at Trinity. "When I played here, every game was decided in the last 19 seconds."
Last year, Trinity edged out Williams for the conference championship thanks to a come-from-behind 20-17 Week Two victory. Since 2001, both the Bantams and the Ephs have garnered no worse than a third-place finish in the NESCAC.
"Every year, that game [against Williams] is an important one," Trinity defensive coordinator and special teams coach Lewis Acquarulo said.
The latest installment had perhaps the most fantastic finish yet. Down 21-13 with three minutes to go, the Bantams forced a punt and took over possession at the Williams 46-yard line. Trinity's offense had been stagnant all day, with the Bantams' only touchdown coming on a 47-yard interception runback by junior Harry Melendez. The offense had previously taken two trips to the red zone but was forced to settle for field goals both times.
"They really had the momentum for most of the game, and even though it was a fairly close game, it felt like it was one-sided," Devanney said. "They were getting some pressure on us, and there were some times where our quarterback was feeling pressure when there wasn't any."
But staring defeat in the face, the Trinity offense clicked. Drusbosky hit senior tri-captain Oliver Starnes for a 24-yard completion of the first play of the drive. A subsequent six-yard rush and two incomplete passes had Trinity facing fourth down on the Williams 16-yard line, setting up the Bantams' heroics.
"[Drusbosky] felt a little pressure and left the pocket," said Devanney, breaking down the play. "[Junior wide receiver Michael Galligan] actually broke off his route and [Drusbosky] kind of found him. It was actually a nice throw. [Drusbosky] was moving to his left and threw off his back foot. [Galligan] made a sliding catch in the end zone."
Still, Trinity trailed 21-19, meaning that the Bantams were forced to go for the two-point conversion. Drusbosky tried to rush it in himself but was stopped short. With 1:48 left on the clock and no timeouts, Trinity was forced to attempt an onside kick.
"We practice the onside kick every Thursday," Acquarulo said. "The thing about our [sophomore] kicker Tim Costello is that he does a really good job getting the ball to bounce. He'll kick the ball into the ground and it will usually take a pretty good hop. The funny thing is that we practiced it around fifteen times and only recovered it around twice.
"To be honest, [in the game] it was just very well executed," he continued. "A lot of the guys weren't really looking for the ball. They were going down trying to collide with someone to force a fumble."
"Fortunately our kicker kicked a nice kick," Devanney added. "The ball squirted free in the pile, and we landed on it."
Trinity took over on its own 40-yard line with 1:41 left on the clock. The momentum had shifted, and the offense hit its stride. Drusbosky engineered a lengthy drive deep into Williams territory, completing six of nine passes including a seven-yard strike to junior tight end Chris Hunt on fourth-and-one.
"We were kind of in that situation where we had no time outs. We were in the hurry-up offense," Devanney said. "We ended up in the fourth quarter having to throw the ball a lot."
With less than 30 seconds on the clock and the ball on the 11-yard line, Trinity could have kicked a field goal for the win. Instead, Devanney put the game in the hands of his offense.
"We didn't have any timeouts left and we were in field goal range," Devanney said. "We made the decision to just take one more shot. We told our quarterback ‘Just take the snap, take the step and throw the ball. Don't take the sack. Don't throw an interception.'"
Drusbosky calmly dropped back and delivered his second touchdown pass in less than two minutes to Galligan.
"Galligan made a nice move and got inside the corner," Devanney said. "The corner really did a good job reacting but [Drusbosky] just threw a good ball where only our guy could get it. [Galligan] had been doing that for us for two years now. He makes big catches."
Williams was allotted only nine seconds for its own attempt at a comeback, which ended abruptly when Melendez recorded his second interception of the day. He ran the ball out of bounds as time expired, giving Trinity the victory.
For 58 minutes on Saturday, Trinity did not play up to the potential of a squad with an aggregate 29-3 record in the last four years. Yet, with flawless execution and certainly a little bit of luck on the onside kick, the Bantams ended up clawing out a win, pushing their record to 2-0 in the process.
Down the stretch, Devanney insisted that confidence was the determining factor in the win.
"Our players play with a lot of confidence," he said. "Even when we didn't make the two point conversion, there were so many guys on the sideline that were like, ‘We're going to win this game.' They have a confidence that comes from the hard work. They know that they prepare themselves right. They know they work hard. They are confident in each other."
