Five touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Two onside kicks recovered. The Tamarac High Bengals did it all on Saturday against No. 14 Fonda Fultonville, but they just couldn't overcome a 31-point deficit.

Fonda led 34-3 heading into the fourth quarter thanks to big plays from quarterback Josh Nethaway. Nethaway passed four four touchdowns and ran for another in the first three quarters and Kevin Hanson (1x) and Tyler Hall (2x) intercepted Tamarac quarterback three times in the first half.

The once racous crowd went dead. It was a blowout. Warm up the bus.

And then Fox took over. He matched Nethaway's output in the first three quarters in thr fourth frame alone - throwing for four touchdowns and taking it in on a three-yard run wtih 1:33 remaining, making the score 41-39 Fonda.

It all came down to a two-point conversion.

Fox looked for Nick Knauer, who had been his most dependable receiver all afternoon. Knauer ran to the back right corner of the end zone, with no defenders around him. Fox lofted the pass and Knauer dove, arms outstretched, and the ball thumped onto the turf a foot past his upturned hands.

Game over.

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"I don’t know too many teams down 34-3 that don’t curl up and die in high school football," said Tamarac head coach Erick Roadcap. "These guys didn’t. They stepped up and they showed their heart."

"Dave stepped up huge in the second half," said Tamarac senior captain, tight end and defensive end Brent Matazinsky. "He was scrambling, throwing to guys."
"We talked about it at halftime: we just can’t quit. We know we can play with these guys. We know we’re good enough, we just came out and struggled."

"It was unbelievable, everything was going right," Fox said. "The offense was clicking and we had told ourselves at the half, ‘Hey, we’ve always talked about how bad you want it.’ And it came down to how bad we wanted it that half."

Tamarac head coach Erick Roadcap monitors his team during a recent practice. (JS Carras - The Record)

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Both teams came into the Class C South Division game with 3-0 records against similar opponents.
Fonda had scored 164 points, tops in all Section II. Tamarac, on the other hand, had allowed only six through three games.

Defense may well win championships, but it won't get you noticed in the polls.

But the Tamarac players didn't really appear to care about any of that. They know they proved that they can play with anyone - especially against a team they just might see in the Sectional playoffs.

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"These kids don’t quit," Roadcap said. "You can’t teach what they do. I can’t tell you how proud of them I am."

"I hope we sent a message to the league," said Matazinsky. "Everyone thinks we just played weak teams and that’s why we won, but losing by two points to the 14th-ranked team in the state, that’s definitely going to show some people something. Hopefully we made a statement."

"I think Tamarac should be on the map now," Fox said.

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FONDA-FULTONVILLE 41, TAMARAC 39

Tamarac (3-1, 3-1) 0 3 0 36 – 39
Fonda (4-0, 4-0) 13 14 7 7 – 41

First Quarter

F – Tyler Hall 47 pass from Josh Nethaway (kick blocked)
F – Kevin Hanson 18 pass from JNethaway (Luke Nethaway kick)

Second Quarter

T – David Fox 33 field goal
F – JNethaway 8 run (Hall run)
F – Hall 33 pass from JNethaway (kick failed)

Third Quarter

F – LNethaway 31 pass from JNethaway (LNethaway kick)

Fourth Quarter

T – Phil Arnold 35 pass from Fox (Knauer pass from Fox)
T – Brent Matazinsky 7 pass from Fox (Fox run)
T – Matazinsky 7 pass from Fox (run failed)
F – JNethaway 58 run (LNethaway kick)
T – Nick Knauer 7 pass from Fox (Kyle Morse pass from Fox)
T – Fox 3 run (pass failed)
Rushing: Tamarac (30-97) David Fox 15-67, Nick Knauer 10-25, Kyle Morse 4-(-1), Phil Arnold 1-6. Fonda (17-110) Josh Nethaway 9-90, Blake Hart 5-15, Nate Craig 2-4, Alex Lilley 1-1.
Passing: Tamarac - David Fox 20-33-4-3-246. Fonda – Josh Nethaway 13-19-4-0-244.
Receiving: Tamarac (20-253) Nick Knauer 11-105, Brent Matazinsky 3-66, Phil Arnold 3-47, Zach Feldmaier 2-30, Kolby Kanellis 1-15. Fonda (13-249) Tyler Hall 3-103, Luke Nethaway 4-66, Kevin Hanson 2-53, Blake hart 3-34, Nate Craig 1-3.

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Marquis Terrell (center) gobbles up some of his 162 rushing yards in La Salle's 48-6 victory over CBA in the annual battle for the Sabre on Friday night. (JS Carras - The Record).

Lou DiNovo (20) is Section II's leading receiver with 347 receiving yards on 10 receptions. The junior wideout has scored four touchdowns for the Cadets (2-0, 3-1). (JS Carras - The Record)
Vinny Planz (24) carries the ball in Friday's game for the Sabre. He finished with 15 yards and a touchdown and the Cadets as a team ran for 276 yards on 38 carries. (JS Carras - The Record).

Ken Altarac (50) tackles CBA's Jack Reilly (14). The Cadets face Shaker on Friday and then travel to Schenectady for a Liberty Division showdown against the Patriots on Oct. 10. (JS Carras - The Record).

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LA SALLE 48, CBA 6

La Salle (2-0, 3-1) 14 20 14 0 - 48
CBA (1-2, 1-3) 0 0 6 0 – 6

First Quarter

LSI – Marquis Terrell 1 run (Josh Terry kick)
LSI – Vinny Planz 3 run (Terry kick)

Second Quarter

LSI – Terrell 30 run (Terry kick)
LSI – Terrell 1 run (kick blocked)
LSI – Tyler Washington 32-yard interception return (Terry kick)

Third Quarter

LSI – Mike Koberger 9 run (Terry kick)
CBA – Zech Nealon 87-yard kick return (kick blocked)
LSI – Dave Pham 22 run (Terry kick)

Fourth Quarter

No scoring
Rushing: LSI (38-276): Marquis Terrell 21-162, Tyler Washington 4-39, Lou DiNovo 1-6, Vinny Planz 3-15, Mike Koberger 2-9, Mike Murray 1-15, Dave Pham 1-22, Rifenberick 1-1, Mike Taylor 3-3, Conor Clark 1-4. CBA (30-66) Jack Reilly 11-18, Aaron Steele 8-22, Dan Sipperly 1-(-2), Andrew Vivian 5-14, Zach Zaloga 2-7, Carlton Bost 3-7.
Passing: LSI: Mike Murray – 6-8-0-0-110. CBA: Andrew Vivian 4-16-0-1-36, Jack Reilly 0-1-0-0-0.
Receiving: LSI (6-110) Lou DiNovo 3-64, Tyler Washington 1-6, Vinny Planz 1-13, Mike Blais 1-27. CBA (4-36) Jack Reilly 1-12, Dan Sipperly 1-13, Greg Larsen 1-5, Max Macielak 1-6.


-- Will Montgomery