Marvin Staten practiced sparingly this week with a muscle contusion in his right thigh. He didn’t get into his Tottenville football team’s crucial game with Susan Wagner until the second quarter.
But when he entered, Staten made a huge impact, ripping off a 43-yard gain on his first carry.
“Once I got that long first run, I thought I could do this,” he said.
Staten finished with 114 yards on 11 carries and scored the go-ahead touchdown with a 2-yard run with 18 seconds left. Visiting Tottenville held on for a come-from-behind, 28-22 win against its Staten Island rival Saturday in PSAL City Championship division football.
“He was just electrifying for us,” Pirates coach Jim Munson said.
Tottenville (6-2) pulled even at 22 on an 18-yard scamper by quarterback Jon Derbyshire with 9:00 left in the game. Derbyshire’s 15-yard pass to Will DiFede got the Pirates down to the Wagner 2-yard line two possessions later. Staten all but demanded the ball before plunging in for what would be the game-winning score.
“I was shouting ‘inside zone, inside zone!’” he said.
Derbyshire was 13-of-28 for 161 yards with touchdown passes to Taariq Neely and Shaban Shatku. All three touchdowns for Wagner (4-4) came on runs by Trevor Ellam, who finished with 111 yards on 24 carries. The Falcons, who upset Curtis last week, had led the entire way until Staten’s score.
Munson said he got into his team at halftime in the locker room. The Pirates cut the lead to 16-14 with 48 seconds left on Derbyshire’s 6-yard pass to Shatku, but had been more reactionary than assertive, a counter puncher instead of the aggressor.
“You didn’t think this was gonna be easy right?” Munson asked his players. “This is Susan Wagner.”
That’s why the win was so important. The coach said his team’s first goal was to win the Island and the victory ties Tottenville with Curtis, which owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, for that mythical crown.
The next mission: a city title. And coming out victorious next week at their place against undefeated Erasmus Hall, which came into Week 8 tops in power points among 5s, would put the Pirates in excellent position to earn home-field advantage deep into the playoffs.
“We gotta win that one,” Munson said. “Gotta beat Erasmus.”
With performances like the one from Staten, who was essentially playing on one leg, it’s possibile. Tottenville starting running back Gil Mendoza went down with an MCL injury early in the season and Staten has stepped right in, emerging as one of the top playmakers in the city. He now has 12 touchdowns – rushing, receiving and on returns – in eight games.
“He’s really carried us,” Munson said. “He showed the heart of a warrior today.”
