ANother story from newsday.com ( a "heads up play" ??????)
Kings Park player is toast of town for heads-up playBY GREGG SARRA |
[email protected]
12:18 PM EDT, October 9, 2008
Kings Park's Conor Kelly was at the center of controversial play that helped his team defeat Sayville on Saturday. (Photo by Joseph D. Sullivan / October 9, 2008)
This was Christmas morning for some on a fall Saturday afternoon. It was too good to be true for Kings Park linebacker Conor Kelly. An almost certain loss to Sayville seemed inevitable. Yet, somewhere in the recesses of Kelly's mind was the smallest notion of what if . . .
There is always a "what if" scenario in sports. That's why all football players at all levels from peewees to the NFL are taught from the first day of practice that it's never over until the final whistle blows.
Kelly made the season's most improbable, but totally heads-up play. With six seconds left and Sayville leading 35-27, Sayville faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 41. Quarterback Dillon Boos fumbled the snap and the ball bounced toward halfback Corey Caulfield. A diving Caulfield had the ball squirt from under his facemask as Kelly went down on to his knees and grabbed the ball. Kelly then threw the ball backward over his head 11 yards, toward the Sayville goal line.
Kelly, a 6-3, 205 pound captain, a three-year starter, is the toast of Kings Park for having the presence of mind to make the play and for battling until the clock read 0:00. The strong side linebacker came hard off the end on the final play.
"We're taught to never give up and that's what our coaches preach," he said. "I came in as fast as I could and I ripped it out of his [Caulfield] hands. And I wanted to keep the ball alive. So I thought we'd have a chance if I threw it toward the goal line."
Kelly laughed while recalling the play.
"It was so unbelievable," he said. "I took the ball and threw it over my head and then I saw [Sean] Russell running with it. I was in pure shock."
Russell caught the ball on a bounce and ran it in for a touchdown to make it 35-33 as time expired. A two-point conversion tied it at 35 and the Kingsmen won in overtime.
Boos still can't believe the finish.
"Coach Hoss called a quick kick to catch them off guard and I was going to toss it back to Corey," Boos said. "I fumbled it after the snap because I was trying to do it so fast. We had just come back from 27-14 and I was thinking this isn't happening. The ref was standing right there. How could he not see [Kelly] throw the ball over his head. You can't even do that in a schoolyard with 10-year-olds. It was totally illegal. That's not a play, that's not real, no way."
It's very real