Flushing’s Jhaleel Mosie scores the Red Devils’ lone touchdown. (philip hall)
Scott Gadsden had the routine down cold: Collect the ball from his center and hand it off. Campus Magnet ran 23 plays across the first three quarters Saturday afternoon and Gadsden, the junior quarterback, dropped back twice, throwing just one pass.
Once Flushing went ahead, Campus coach Eric Barnett scrapped the conservative game plan, heavy rains or not.
“Let’s get it going,” Barnett told Gadsden.
He reacted like he had been running the spread attack all afternoon.
Gadsden led the Bulldogs on a crisp game-winning 80-yard, five-play drive that took just 1:24. He completed the clutch possession by hitting Karim Pierre on a 19-yard fade, the second time the two connected for a touchdown, with 4:09 remaining.
The result was a dramatic 14-7 victory over Flushing on homecoming in front of the largest crowd the Cambria Heights school has seen in several years. The win netted Campus the mythical Queens title, but more importantly sets it up nicely for the postseason with one week left in the regular season.
“The fans, community, alumni, all they do for us, we repaid them with a win,” Pierre said.
It was an ugly first 36 minutes for each team, the lone highlight Gadsden’s 36-yard strike to Pierre on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the afternoon. There were 15 penalties altogether, eight by Campus. Flushing drove into Campus territory twice in the opening half, but failed to put any points on the board, turning it over once and Kevin Correa pulled a 28-yard field goal right the other time.
“You gotta score points,” Flushing coach Jim DeSantis said. “I thought three scores was what it was gonna take anyway.”
The Bulldogs (6-2) had the lead, but they weren’t moving the ball. When halfback Kevin Lewis fumbled early in the fourth quarter, the Red Devils (5-3) made them pay. Quarterback Jordan Beranger converted three first downs and Jhaleel Mosie went the final yard with 5:33 remaining. Correa kicked the go-ahead extra point, for a 7-6 Flushing lead.
There was little panic in the ensuing Campus huddle. The Bulldogs reassured one another the game wasn’t over. Gadsden said they had a job to do.
“No way we’re gonna lose,” Pierre said was the general theme.
Gadsden started the drive off by darting 10 yards up the middle. After an incomplete pass and an offside’s infraction against Flushing, he made the play of the game – and the season up to this point, for that matter – hitting offensive tackle-turned-tight end Nmesoma Okafar on a 46-yard pickup over the middle. It was just the third reception of Okafor’s career.
“We ran it all week in practice,” the the 6-foot-6 Okafor said of the wide-open seam pass. “It fit the defense they run.”
On the very next play, Gadsden froze the Flushing linebackers with a well-executed play-action fake and found Pierre in the left corner of the end zone. He also ran in the 2-point conversion.
“It was up to me to get the job done,” he said.
Barnett said his quarterback grew up. Pierre, who had missed the beginning of the season with a knee injury, but has come on to catch three touchdown passes the last two weeks, said Gadsden was loose when the game was in the balance. He didn’t lock in on one receiver; he adjusted. Barnett had been looking for that edge.
“Scott gets down on himself, but when I saw him have confidence, I knew we could throw the ball, because it gave me confidence,” he said.
Barnett later added: “He can really let the ball fly and he’s smart. He beats all of us in Madden, so it shows he has a high football IQ.”
The Bulldogs think the sky is the limit right now. If the season ended today, they would receive the sixth seed in the 16-team city playoffs. Okafor talked about going after the city crown now that they have the unofficial Queens title. After failing in its previous two tests, at home against undefeated Erasmus Hall and slumping Canarsie, Campus Magnet picked up the signature win it was in search of.
“We showed the league,” Gadsden said, “we can win a big game for once.”
