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After a sluggish start, the CBA bowlers gathered momentum and threw a second-game score of 1,103 -- the tournament high -- on the board. Columbia held a 43-pin lead heading into the sixth and final game, but Zeph Kozakiewicz closed with a 255 and Dom Savona put together a string of nine strikes for a 279. When it was over, the Brothers won the Class AA crown by a 73-pin margin with a 6,084 total.
"In my mind, my guys didn't lose," Columbia coach Bill Neumann said. "The other team won. They bowled phenomenonally. They rallied for their coach. It's a great story."
Are you kidding us?
A late-season Section 9 showdown between state-ranked teams Marlboro and Burke Catholic had a twist that won't be forgotten for a long time.
Marlboro won 23-16 after a sure-thing, 75-yard TD by Burke with 3:00 to go was called back on a penalty that is rarely -- if ever -- called.
After Marlboro took a 23-16 lead on Rino Tamburri's 4-yard TD run with 3:06 left, the Eagles responded on their next play with a tipped pass from Kiernan Hamilton to junior wide receiver Nick Grasso streaking down the right sideline.
The play was brought back because an official ruled that Burke players on the sideline stepped onto the field as the play unfolded to watch Grasso streak toward the end zone.
"I've never seen anything like that (call) in my life," Burke coach Kevin Ross said. "They called us for 12 men on the field because we were running on the sideline following the play. I was right on the sideline and we weren't. And the guy on our sideline didn't call it. It was the guy on the other side of the field who called it. It was a complete non-factor in the play. It's disappointing to say the least."
More wild games
The warmups in the resumption of a Section 5 girls soccer playoff game took longer than the actual contest.
Saturday-night storms halted Pittsford Sutherland's game at Brighton at a most dramatic moment as the teams, who had gone through regulation and 30 minutes of overtime tied at 0-0, were knotted at 9-9 through 10 rounds of a penalty-kick shootout.
When the teams got back together two days later to finish, Vicki Beatham scored in the 13th round of PKs to advance Sutherland to the sectional Class A semifinals by an 11-10 margin.
In Staten Island girls basketball, Moore Catholic went from 25 points down late in the third quarter to a 17-point win in overtime against St. Joseph Hill. The Mavericks finished on a jaw-dropping 44-2 run in the fourth quarter and overtime to prevail 78-61.
There were some memorable football comebacks as well, including one on the biggest stage:
• Senior QB Bryce Morrison's fifth rushing TD of the game with 26 seconds left capped a big Randolph rally vs. Chester and gave the Cardinals their third straight NYSPHSAA championship in Class D by a 48-41 score.
Morrison and senior running back Devyn Nelson (25 carries, 289 yards, one TD) ran for 464 of the Cardinals' 466 yards, with the rally from the 27-6 halftime deficit officially complete when Morrison picked off Chester QB Vinny Aloi near the Cards' 20 in the waning seconds.
Morrison's scoring carries of 44, 8 and 1 yard pushed Randolph ahead 40-35 with 2:55 to go, but Aloi (23 of 40, 455 yards, 4 TDs) found Justin Feldman for a 31-yard TD play just 32 seconds later to finish off a five-play drive. Needing to go 65 yards, Morrison got the job done in four plays -- passes of 42 and 18 yards to Derek Young, an intentional spike to stop the clock and then the QB's 5-yard TD carry.
