Fort Hamilton defeated Abraham Lincoln, 8-6, Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium to win the PSAL city championship. The Tigers finished a perfect 13-0. (Evan MacDonald/The Brooklyn Ink)
By Evan MacDonald
More than anything for the Fort Hamilton High School football team, this year’s PSAL championship game was about unfinished business.
Each of the last two seasons, the Tigers entered the playoffs undefeated. Each year, they went home empty-handed.
They didn’t let it happen again.
Fort Hamilton defeated Lincoln, 8-6, under the bright lights at Yankee Stadium today for its third city championship of the decade.
The Tigers also won city titles in 2005 and 2006.
“We always talk about that,” senior Brandon Reddish said about the previous two seasons. “And we always talk about one word, which is ‘finish.’ And we finally finished.”
Coach Danny Perez, in his first year at the helm, said it was a perfect ending to his inaugural season.
“It an unbelievable feeling, and I just feel so glad for the kids,” he said. “They came to the championship as sophomores, and they lost. Now, they were able to come to the big stage at Yankee Stadium and finish the job.”
The Tigers (13-0) tied the score at 6-6 with three minutes left in the third quarter on a 26-yard play-action pass from junior Marvin Centeno to Reddish.
The key play, though, came seconds later on the two-point conversion. Perez called a play that had Centeno look for senior Dylan Campili in the back of the end zone — a play which, Perez said after the game, had resulted in Campili dropping the ball four times in practice the day before.
This time, though, Centeno’s pass was successful, with Campili cradling the ball for what would prove to be the decisive two points.
“When that play came on in the game, and coach called it, everything ran through my head, and the only thing I could think of is “I’ve got to get this ball, I want this ring,’” Campili said afterward. “But I came down with it, and when I got up, it was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had.”
After the game, Perez laughed about the practice.
“Now in crunch time, at Yankee Stadium, he caught it,” Perez said. “He couldn’t catch it in the cold yesterday, but he sure caught that one.”
The Railsplitters (12-1) had dominated the first half with a 95-yard scoring drive that lasted more than 12 minutes and consumed all but the last two seconds of the second period. Junior Kareem Folkes bulldozed his way into the end zone for Lincoln’s sole touchdown.
Despite the loss, Lincoln coach Shawn O’Connor was proud of his team for what they’d accomplished. Two years ago, the Railsplitters finished just 1-8.
“I told the guys in the locker room, who would’ve ever thought we would be at this point, in Yankee Stadium, two years ago being 1-8?” O’Connor said. “That’s a testament to the type of kids they are and all the hard work they put into the program.”
The Fort Hamilton defense was noticeably better in the second half after letting up the long drive in the first. Throughout the fourth quarter, they kept Lincoln at bay, never allowing the Railsplitters to threaten.
After the game, senior Rasheem Stroud was perhaps the most vocal about how excited he was. Stroud said he had been to the playoffs three consecutive years and come up short, so winning at Yankee Stadium meant everything.
“It felt so good, like Brandon said, just to finish. We set that goal in our mind, to finish, and we did it,” senior Rasheem Stroud said. “It feels so good to finish. Undefeated, number one? It’s like you’re on top of the world.”
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