This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
12/03/2021 11:00 PMHand football Head Coach Erik Becker keeps replaying the events of his team’s Class L State Playoff game against St. Joseph. After the Tigers saw their season end with a one-point overtime loss to the Cadets in the quarterfinals, Coach Becker was pondering what he could have done differently to change the outcome.
As the No. 8 seed, Hand traveled to Bridgeport to face top-seeded St. Joseph in the Class L quarterfinals and lost the contest by a 21-20 score in overtime at Kennedy Stadium on Nov. 30. The Tigers scored the first touchdown of OT, but had their extra point get blocked, after which St. Joseph tied the game with a TD and then won it by hitting its extra point. Hand finished the 2021 season with an overall record of 7-4.
“It was exactly as we hoped the game would go up until the very end,” Coach Becker said. “I’ve been waking up every night, replaying a couple of late decisions. It’s tough, because we were very close to knocking off the top seed in the tournament, so I think about things that I could have done differently.”
Hand and St. Joseph were tied 14-14 entering the fourth quarter, and the game stayed that way through the end of regulation. On Hand’s last drive, the Tigers drove to the Cadets’ 3-yard-line in the final minute, but were stuffed at the line of scrimmage on three-straight rush attempts.
“I was faced with a tough decision,” said Becker. “We were 4th-and-3 from their 3-yard-line, and I had to weigh the option of going with the best play in that situation or relying on our best players on offense.”
Becker elected to send out senior kicker Mario Mazzarella to attempt a 20-yard field goal, but due to a missed block, St. Joseph blocked the kick to send the game to overtime.
“It was essentially an extra point attempt,” Becker said. “Mario was 38-for-44 on PATs entering this game, and we had faith that he could get the job done. It was out of his hands that it ended up getting blocked.”
On the flipside, Coach Becker contemplated what might have happened had he kept the foot on the gas and had Hand go for the touchdown instead.
“All of our best players are on offense,” said Becker. “We have three All-SCC, dominant players on that side of the ball, and I believe I needed to put my best players out there for that particular situation, not necessarily rely on the best play.”
In overtime, senior captain quarterback Patch Flanagan scored on a 1-yard touchdown rush to put the Tigers up 20-14. However, St. Joseph blocked another extra-point attempt by Mazzarella, keeping Hand’s lead at six.
The Cadets followed by going on a touchdown drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the game. St. Joseph then made its extra point to break the tie and come away with a 21-20 victory.
“All we can do is learn from our mistakes. We could have gone for two in overtime, but I had faith in Mario to get the job done,” Coach Becker. “All in all, it was a great effort by our guys. It’s not the result we wanted, but we gave it our all. I will always blame myself for our shortcomings.”
Following a scoreless first quarter, Hand got on the board in the second quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Flanagan. Mazzarella’s extra point made it 7-0. St. Joseph came back with drive that finished with a 1-yard rushing TD, and the two sides were locked in a 7-7 tie entering halftime.
The Tigers took the lead when Flanagan ran for a 21-yard touchdown on 4th-and-4 during the third quarter. Mazzarella hit the extra point to put Hand up 14-7 entering the fourth.
In the final frame, the Cadets scored on a 1-yard touchdown and then hit the extra point to make it 14-14 with eight minutes to play in regulation, setting up the dramatic finish to the game.
“We did a good job of controlling the clock overall. It’s always said you need to control the last four minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the second half, and we really did that,” said Becker. “We had a touchdown called back at the end of the first half, which would have put us up 14-7, but we responded well with a touchdown in the third quarter.”
Unfortunately for Hand, St. Joseph had an answer every time the Tigers scored a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, the Cadets successfully executed a fake punt that led to their game-tying score.
“There was a fake punt in the fourth quarter that was instrumental in them tying the game,” Becker said. “They were punting out of their own end zone, and we probably should have left our defense on the field for that play. They ended up converting the fake punt and drove all the way down the field for the touchdown.”
Flanagan ran 25 times for 116 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to going 8-of-10 passing for 125 yards versus St. Joseph. Senior Ethan O’Brien carried the ball 12 times for 44 yards for the Tigers. Senior captain Seth Sweitzer had four catches for 43 yards, senior Shane Smith had a 38-yard reception, junior Sam Sisk had a 31-yard catch, and sophomore Owen Preskar had two receptions for 13 yards.
Sisk also had an interception on defense for the Tigers. Junior Alex Cushing had 1.5 sacks, senior Sean Portley recorded a sack, while senior Brendan Walsh, junior John Hayden, and junior Wesley Salmani each posted 0.5 sacks. Walsh and Sweitzer both forced a fumble for Hand. Walsh had 17 tackles, and Hayden made 12 tackles in the game.
Despite the loss, Hand proved one of the best teams in Connecticut once again this fall. Every team that defeated the Tigers this season advanced to its state semifinals.
“We played one of the most competitive schedules in Connecticut and competed with all of those teams,” said Becker. “They were all winnable games.”
Looking ahead to next year, Coach Becker will continue to have high expectations for the Tigers, and he’s already eager to get started.
“Our standard of excellence doesn’t change. Our expectation doesn’t change. The expectation is that we are going to compete for a championship,” said Becker. “We have 13 state titles in our school history. It’s really hard to win a state title, but that’s always going to be the goal. We bring back a ton of experience next year and I’m excited to see what we can do.”