ONEONTA, NY – Saturday's Empire 8 football game between Hartwick and Morrisville State came down to the final play. With the Hawks trailing on the Morrisville 14 yard-line with nine seconds remaining, Shane Carroll intercepted John Garcia's (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley) pass on the 4 and the Mustangs hung on for a 31-28 win at Wright Stadium.
The Hawks rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to put themselves in a position to win. They had two chances to tie the score or take the lead in the final seven minutes but could not produce any points.
John Garcia would throw for 404 yards and three touchdowns on 27 completions for the Hawks. His brother, Brad Garcia (Warwick, NY/Warwick Valley), would make 12 receptions for 173 yards and one score. Senior Tanner Williams (Eagle Bridge, NY/Hoosick Falls) made five catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. He also became the program's all-time leader in reception yards, breaking Hall of Famer Ryan Soule's record which has stood since 2002. Williams now has accumulated 3,443 yards receiving in four seasons.
The two teams generated a total of 880 yards of offense on the day. The Hawks recorded 457 yards of offense with Morrisville earning 423.
The Hawks had difficulty getting their offense going in the first half of play. Morrisville scored the first 17 points of the game and 'Wick couldn't break into the scoring column until eight seconds remained before halftime. Hartwick drove 81 yards on five plays and the Garcias connected for a 19-yard touchdown pass to get the Hawks six points. Korey Jubie (Kingston, NY/Kingston) hit the PAT and the Mustangs led 17-7 at halftime.
Hartwick trimmed the gap to three points on their opening drive of the second half. The Hawks had the ball on the Morrisville two yard-line and Matthew Grospitch (Tolland, CT/Wilbraham & Monson) pounced on a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. It would mark the first of five touchdowns for both teams in the final eight and a half minutes of the third quarter.
Later in the period, the Mustangs capitalized on a Hartwick turnover and scored to build the margin back up to 10 points, 24-14, but a John Garcia to Nicky Celestino (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) 7-yard touchdown answered right back for the Hawks.
Morrisville came back with a 60-yard touchdown pass 47 seconds after that to increase their lead to ten once again, 31-21. Three plays after the kickoff, John Garcia threw to Williams for a 28-yard touchdown to make the score 31-28 with eight seconds left in the third.
The Hawks' defense came up with stops on Morrisville's next two possessions in the fourth quarter. 'Wick would drive to the Mustang eight yard-line with 6:49 remaining and had a chance to tie the score but a Jubie 28-yard field goal sailed wide right keeping Morrisville in front.
The Mustangs registered a pair of first downs and took four minutes off the clock before the Hawks forced a punt. They got the ball back with 2:23 left on their own 16 yard-line.
John Garcia completed five of his first six passes on the drive to get the Hawks to the Morrisville 27. On a fourth and 5 with 33 seconds left, Williams made a six-yard reception to keep the drive alive. A John Garcia seven-yard run out of bounds gave the Hawks the ball on the 14 with 8.9 seconds left. With one timeout remaining, they had time for one more play, but Carroll came up with the timely pick for the Mustangs to seal the win.
Quarterback Cory Benedetto led the Morrisville offense with 225 passing yards and three touchdowns. Cristian Pena gained 115 yards on the ground with one score.
Ron Richards (White Plains, NY/Woodlands) would contribute to the Hawks' offense with four catches for 70 yards. Defensively, the Hawks had nine tackles for a loss of 34 yards in the game. Mark Hackett (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls) led the way with a game-high 11 hits. Nick Sorrenti (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell), Matthew Ali (Sayville, NY/Sayville), and Travis Samuels (New City, NY/Clarkstown North) each recorded six tackles. Sorrenti had 2.5 tackles for loss, including one sack, and one pass defended. Ali notched two tackles for loss, forced a fumble, and blocked a field goal attempt.
Hartwick (2-4, 0-4 E8) is on the road at Alfred next Saturday at 1 p.m.