By Warren Rappleyea
Trailing by three points with just under two minutes to play and visiting Piscataway Township High School facing a third-and-6 situation — knowing a first down would enable the Chiefs to run out the clock — Old Bridge High School coach Anthony Lanzafama called a timeout.
The Knights’ mentor reiterated the importance of the situation and told his players if they held, “you never know what will happen.” What happened next certainly falls into that category.
Piscataway handed the ball to Elijah Barnwell, who churned out 153 yards on 32 rushes. Barnwell gained about 5 yards and as he strained to reach the first down, the Knights’ Nick Sodano managed to strip the ball from Barnwell’s hands and sprinted 45 yards for a touchdown to put his team in front, 17-13.
“That was one of the best plays I’ve ever seen,” Lanzafama said. “Nick ripped the ball out of [Barnwell’s] hands, somehow stayed on his feet and just took off. It was amazing.”
Despite a squib kick by Old Bridge, the Chiefs’ Juwon Jackson ran the ball back to the Knights’ 31-yard line. Two plays later, Barnwell went 24 yards into the end zone to put Piscataway back on top.
Anthony Imbimbo brought the kickoff back into Chiefs territory and with 1:40 on the clock, Old Bridge went to its two-minute drill to try and get into field-goal range to give Jon Sammarco a chance to tie the game. With the clock ticking down near the 30-second mark, Sodano took a handoff and ran 42 yards to pay dirt, breaking two tackles along the way to electrify the crowd. The run put Old Bridge up, 24-20, with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Piscataway, in turn, tried to come back, making it all the way to the Knights’ 10-yard line when time ran out.
Sodano had the kind of game that will be talked about for years to come. The senior tailback scored three touchdowns in five minutes of playing time, as his team recovered from a 13-3 deficit.
The comeback actually began with Piscataway driving in the fourth quarter. Liam Knowles stripped the ball from Jackson and recovered the fumble. Old Bridge turned the tables and went the other way, eventually scoring on Sodano’s 6-yard run. Knowles also made the strip on the last play of the game that forged a 42-42 tie with Edison High School earlier in the season.
Old Bridge opened the scoring in the second quarter with an interception by Imbimbo, which led to Sammarco’s 37-yard field goal. The Chiefs answered with a touchdown to take a 6-3 lead into the half, but the PAT was blocked by Sodano.
“That missed point was huge in the fourth quarter,” Lanzafama said. “Piscataway has a good kicker and they were in field-goal range before the last play, but they had to go for the touchdown.”
Sodano ended the night with 127 yards on 21 carried and also caught three passes for 52 yards. Old Bridge quarterback Artur Sitkowski completed 19 of 35 pass attempts for 225 yards.
With the victory, Old Bridge changed the shape of the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division race. With a 3-0-1 mark in divisional play, the Knights are in the driver’s seat. If Lanzafama’s team wins its remaining division games — against New Brunswick High School, Sayreville War Memorial High School and East Brunswick High School — the title will belong to Old Bridge.
The coach acknowledged his team’s position, while noting that the Knights have a long road before they can start talking about a division title.