Tristin Thomas needed just one yard to keep a drive alive on fourth down as Franklin Roosevelt was trying to hold off Bayside in the fourth quarter. He got much more.
The senior running back burst through the middle of the defense untouched for a 46-yard touchdown that ensured the second-seeded Cougars a 32–20 victory over No. 4 Bayside in the Public School Athletic League Bowl Conference football semifinals last Sunday at Midwood Athletic Complex.
Thomas’s teammates ran with him in celebration down the sideline.
“They told me, ‘get the first down,’ and I tried my hardest,” said Thomas, who scored twice. “I saw the hole and I was gone.”
The victory earns Franklin Roosevelt (10–2) its first-ever trip to the final, where it faces top-seeded McKee-Staten Island Tech at 7 pm Nov. 29 at Abraham Lincoln.
Roosevelt had not won a playoff game before this season. FDR’s program only started in 2006, and the team lost its first two games this year, but won 10-straight games since then.
“It’s very special,” FDR coach Paul Klyap said. “Right now we are on a roll. We are on a roll and hope to keep it rolling.”
Bayside (8–3) did its best to derail the Cougars run, but it had answer for each second-half charge. The Commodores got within 18–12 on a five-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Flug to Tyrell Plaza with 2:12 to go in the third quarter. FDR didn’t take long to counter.
It needed just seven plays to go 71 yards on a drive that ended with Kaseem Morrison hitting Monrico Cummings for a 20-yard score to make it 26–12 early in the fourth quarter. Bayside made it 26–20 on Tyrell Plaza’s second touchdown run of the game before Thomas put the game out of reach.
The combination of Thomas and Morrison proved too much for Bayside to handle. Thomas carried the ball 16 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Morrison rushed for 67 yards and a score on eight carries, and also threw two touchdown passes to Cummings.
“At any point they can take over the game,” Klyap said. “A little bit here, a little bit there and then — bam — they are gone.”
Franklin Roosevelt felt its performance could have been even better, as fumbles and penalties gave Bayside a chance to stay in the game. FDR did take advantage of the Commodores’ mistakes in the first half. The Cougars scored just before halftime after high snap on punt left them deep in Bayside territory. Morrison found Cummings for a 16-yard score and Thomas ran in the two-point conversion to make it 18–6 at the half.
FDR knows it will need to be better to get revenge on a McKee-Staten Island team that beat it 22–18 in the season opener. The Sea Gulls scored a touchdown with eight seconds left to steal the victory. That left Franklin Roosevelt even hungrier to claim the crown.
“We were praying for this,” Thomas said. “We were praying to play them again. We got one more shot.”
