Crusaders nearly lose winning streak against the Wizards
Central Valley. Persistence by the varsity football team helped them secure another win.
| 14 Oct 2024 | 12:54
The Crusaders’ defense came up big in the fourth quarter. (
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Roland Chambers, #26, sacks the Wizards’ quarterback late in the fourth quarter. (
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Noah Flores, #42, had 138 yards on 15 carries with one touchdown in the game. (
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Louis Meade, #3, sprints 39 yards down the side line for the winning score late in the fourth quarter. (
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On a cool October night on Oct. 10, the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders varsity football team traveled to Washingtonville to take on the Wizards for their annual backyard brawl. The Crusaders came into the game with a 5-0 record after beating Pine Bush last week 42-15 and the Wizards were 2-2 after dropping their last game to Lourdes.
On the Crusaders first possession of the game, Noah Flores took a handoff and charged through a hole in the Wizards’ defense and out-raced everybody 81 yards to the end zone. When Matvii Butivhin scored the first of his four PATs in the game, the Crusaders led 7-0. The Wizards answered the Crusaders and on their next possession they scored on a 20-yards pass, tying the score at 7. The scrappy Wizards then drove down the field again and took the lead on a 24-yard field goal to end the first.
The Crusaders retook the lead in the second quarter when quarterback Ethan Maldonado hit tight-end Charlie Theokas with a short pass and he powered his way into the end zone. But the Crusaders’ lead didn’t last too long. The Wizards retook the lead on a six-yard run by their quarterback to take a 17-14 lead. The Crusaders were not done and with :48 left in the half, Maldonado found Max Weeks over the middle where he made a sure-handed catch for a score, putting the Crusaders up at the half 21-17.
In the third quarter, the Wizards retook the lead on a 35-yard touchdown pass for a score of 24-21 into the fourth quarter. In an exciting fourth quarter with under three minutes left in the game, the Crusaders’ unbeaten streak was on the line. That’s when Maldonado hit Louis Meade with a swing pass who then speedily raced 39 yards to put the Crusaders up 28-24. The Crusaders’ defense took over from there as Roland Chambers and Kamal Salaudeen both recorded sacks to stop the Wizards’ last drives. The Crusaders’ victory brings their record to 6-0.