Click here to read Chris Lawlor's piece in the Wayne Today
Click here to read the Star Ledger Article on this exciting game, including the controversial ending.
Click here to view MSGVarsity footage of controversial touchdown. Footage seems to reveal that the whistle did blow on game winning TD.
Click here for JerseySportsNow coverage
Click here to read the Suburbanite's story
Below is Skiffo Drake's verion
SECTION I, GROUP III FINAL: Wayne Hills 24, Old Tappan 21: Wayne Hills (11-1) won the Section I, Group III crown in miraculous fashion. Old Tappan had rallied to go in front, 21-17 when Devin Fuller threw a 12-yard pass to Drew Martinez with 23 seconds left.
Brian Dowling took the ensuing kickoff and, while being tackled, lateraled to Troy Zaffino, who ran 76 yards for a stunning, game-winning touchdown with five seconds left.
The deciding TD was disputed by Old Tappan, which claimed the play had been whistled dead by an official due to their assertion that Dowling's forward progress had been stopped. Old Tappan coach Brian Dunn said his kids also claimed the play had been blown dead.
"Our kids heard a whistle blow on the field," Dunn said.
Zaffino, who scored the game winner, admitted that the whistle was blown. But the miraculous touchdown stood regardless.
"I did hear a whistle, but I just kept running," Zaffino said.
Cowardly referees fled from the field afterwards, instead of offering an explanation.
"We never practiced this before," Zaffino said. "I saw Brian get the ball and then he was about to be stopped and I yelled at him to get the ball back to me. And then when I got the whole left side was open and I just ran."
"I told the team, let me catch it and try to make a play," Dowling said. "When they were on me I heard Troy yell "BD, BD!" So I pitched it and he did the rest."
Early in the game, it appeared that Hills was cruising to another victory. Dowling scored two second quarter rushes (3 and 6 yards) to put Hills up 14-0. With less than 40 seconds remaining in the half, Fuller scored on a 15 yard rush to bring Old Tappan within 14-7. Hills managed to move the ball down quickly and added a Mike Driesse 27-yard field goal before intermission.
Old Tappan scored on two long scoring drives to eventually take its short-lived lead. Keith Rodman capped of the first drive with an 18 yard TD run. The Fuller-to-Martinez pass with 23 seconds left capped off a 90-yard drive.
Dowling kept his team in the lead through most of the game by carrying 31 times for 189 yards and two TDs, giving him 34 for the season. Kevin Olsen was 10-for-17 passing for 139 yards.
Fuller finished 8-for-16 for 125 yards and the one TD and he rushed 25 times for 88 yards and a score. Rodman finished with 70 yards on seven carries, all in the second half.
This was Hills' seventh State Sectional crown (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010).
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