By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
The New Egypt High football season has been a rollercoaster ride on top of a Ferris Wheel inside of a merry-go-round.
At times New Egypt coach Tom Farrell has enjoyed the ride. At other times he has been left dizzy. Almost always, he has walked away from each game wondering, “do we have to pay for all this fun?”
This past Friday night, New Egypt defeated Woodrow Wilson, 30-24, in overtime. And although this game was filled with one momentum-shifting play after another, a few would-be dramatic finishes and then the real thing, it really was just a typical contest for the 4-0 New Egypt Warriors.
Hey, good thing they’re Warriors. A bunch of regular guys couldn’t take this anymore.
“I keep wondering when the football Gods are going to make us pay for all this,” Farrell laughed. “I’ve been thinking, ‘When is this all going to change and start going against us?’ The football Gods let it all even out in the end.”
Then again, maybe not. Maybe they were so impressed by the fact Langston Lacroix ran for over 300 yards, scored three touchdowns and added a field goal that they had to make sure he came out on the winning side on Friday night. Lacroix also was named the Homecoming King at halftime.
That, my friends, is what you call a good night.
“Langston Lacroix was unbelievable,” Farrell said. “Even with all of those great athletes out there, he was the best player on the field.”
Lacroix’s 32-yard field goal had New Egypt holding a 24-18 lead with about six minutes to play.
Of course, Woodrow Wilson went right down the field and scored.
“They kind of moved the ball at will all game, but occasionally stopped themselves with fumbles or penalties,” Farrell said.
New Egypt’s Jamel Smith, a freshman starting at cornerback, also stopped a pair of drives with interceptions.
Not this time. Woodrow Wilson scored. It was set to ruin New Egypt’s perfect season and let the Warriors walk off the field knowing what it was like to suffer one of those heartbreaking losses they have had so much fun inflicting on people.
“They missed the extra point,” Farrell laughed. “They missed the extra point. How long can this keep happening?
“We want a great performance. We haven’t performed for four quarters yet. We had opportunities to put the game away on Friday and then something would happen.”
Fortunately, the game worked its way to overtime. But even a Woodrow Wilson team that beat Florence in overtime the previous week couldn’t match New Egypt under those circumstances. The Warriors would be comfortable in a tornado being pushed around by a hurricane. Well, at least the players would.
“I get so nervous,” Farrell laughed. “I get so nervous every game.”
And Farrell’s talking about the 50-0 blowouts. Imagine what this season has been like to him?
Anyway, Woodrow Wilson chooses to start on offense in overtime and is stopped. Needing only any kind of score, Farrell starts thinking about a field goal. A first-
down play, however, loses 4 yards. So now rather than a 42-yard kick, it would be 46 yards.
On second down, Brian Hamilton completes a pass to Sean Barnes to the 1. Hamilton sneaks it in from there and New Egypt is heading to Florence 7 p.m. Friday night with a 4-0 record.
“You know what’s great about high school football?” Farrell asked. “Dakota Havens gets hurt in the first quarter and then everyone steps up.”
And a big nod goes to the offensive line of Mike Ruggiero (center), Nick Puza (guard), Rigo Morfin (guard), Walter Didenko (tackle) and Tyler Kazio (tackle).
“You don’t rush for over 400 yards without the offensive line really doing something,” Farrell said.
New Egypt is going to need the line and everyone else to come away with another thrilling effort if it’s going to improve to 5-0 on Friday.
“Florence is our measuring stick,” Farrell said. “We’ve never beat them. For us, it’s another opportunity to play a really good game. We haven’t done that. Being 4-0 is really great, but we have six more games. (The Woodrow Wilson) game means nothing if we lay an egg the next four weeks.”
The egg laying doesn’t seem likely. After the hectic first four weeks, all the eggs are already broken.

