Susan Wagner’s defense has battled its ups and downs all season due to lack of depth. It had similar inconsistency issues Saturday against Tottenville.
The Falcons stopped quarterback Jon Derbyshire and the Pirates’ aerial attack early, only to see Tottenville running back Marvin Staten, nursing a leg injury, come off the bench and go for 43 yards on his first carry of the second quarter. The balance between running and passing proved difficult the rest of the way in a 28-22 Wagner home loss in PSAL City Championship division football.
“We couldn’t stop the pass,” Falcons coach Al Paturzo said. “They were in our heads by that time.”
Wagner (4-4) actually led throughout the game on the back of three touchdown runs by Trevor Ellam. Tottenville (6-2) didn’t tie it up at 22 until there were 9:00 left in the game on an 18-yard scramble by Derbyshire. Ironically, the Falcons defense did a solid job in coverage on the play, but Derbyshire burned them with his legs.
Wagner, which has been getting guidance from former New York Jets head coach Rich Kotite, had two possessions thereafter with a chance to go ahead, but it fumbled in its own end and was forced to punt. On the ensuing drive, Staten’s 2-yard plunge into the end zone with 18 seconds left put the Pirates ahead for good.
“We got beat today when we shouldn’t have gotten beat,” Paturzo said.
Ellam rushed for 111 yards, but on 24 carries. Wagner’s strategy coming in was to establish the run early and often. Ellam was a workhorse; he just wasn’t able to break off any big plays, which has been a staple of his all season.
“We didn’t run the ball as well as I thought we could,” Paturzo said.
In the bad weather, quarterback Jordan Rodriguez (5-17, 100) had his troubles, too. His receivers struggled catching passes cleanly with the rain coming down in spurts. Despite playing from ahead, Paturzo had no interest in trying to drain the clock on the ground.
“We threw the ball more then,” the coach said. “We knew who we were up against.”
After a huge win last week against Curtis, one of the PSAL’s elite, Wagner is back to the drawing board. The Falcons should still make the playoffs, but their path will have to start on the road.
“We’ll see how tough we really are,” Paturzo said.