Travon Reid Segure has been tabbed as one of the city’s top prospects because of his two-way play-making ability as a ball-hawking safety and explosive wide receiver.
The versatile Fort Hamilton junior added another scary dimension to keep opposing coaches up at night Saturday: special teams ace.
With 5:20 left in the fourth quarter and Campus Magnet ready to draw even, Segure raced around the left side and blocked Damar Campbell’s 26-yard field goal attempt, a turning point in the Tigers’ 30-21 victory in Cambria Heights – the Bay Ridge school’s 34th straight regular-season victory.
“I feel like I had to block that kick,” Segure said of his first career field goal block. “I knew the guy wasn’t going to block me – nobody blocked me.”
It didn’t seem like defending city champion Fort Hamilton, ranked third in the city by The Post, would need any fourth quarter heroics early on, not after racing out to leads of 16-0 and 24-8, as quarterback Marvin Centeno (two touchdown runs) was eating up chunks of yardage on the ground.
But Campus Magnet came storming back behind junior quarterback Khalik Greenwood, drawing within 24-21 on his 7-yard scoring strike to fullback Kareem Turnage late in the third quarter.
Turnage got Campus Magnet (1-1) the ball back when he stripped Centeno. The Bulldogs looked to be going in for the go-ahead score, after Antoine Allen caught an over-the-shoulder 37-yard catch from Greenwood (18-of-30, 218 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs) to the Fort Hamilton 11. But after Greenwood missed an open Jared Ward in the end zone, the Bulldogs were forced to settle for a game-tying field goal attempt.
Instead of Campus Magnet getting even, however, Segure made sure Fort Hamilton (2-0) kept the lead.
“We count on him to make a big play in the big games and he made the big plays at the end,” Fort Hamilton coach Danny Perez said.
Segure had a few big first down runs on the lengthy 11-play, 77-yard drive that culminated with Stefon Hayles’ 30-yard touchdown run with 1:42 remaining. The play, described as “tackle read,” was similar to so many Fort Hamilton ran: Centeno out of the shotgun would either hand off to Hayles or Tyrone Raymond or fake the handoff and keep it himself to sterling results. The offensive guards pull and take on the linebackers, forcing the defensive tackles to read the play.
Campus Magnet never had an answer for it, allowing 203 yards rushing, 106 of them to Centeno.
“We knew they ran it – they invented it from what I know; they’re one of the first PSAL teams to do it,” Campus Magnet coach Eric Barnett said. “They are a hell of team. We were right there with them. My kids were up to the task, we just couldn’t get the job done.”
Segure said the Tigers made a statement to the rest of the city with the victory, that although former stars Brandon Reddish (Syracuse), Ivan Foy (Syracuse) and Rasheem Stroud (Liberty) have graduated, they are the same dominant team that hasn’t lost a regular season game since Sept. 28, 2007 to New Utrecht.
“It was like a playoff atmosphere, we had to come out to prove a point,” Segure said. “We seem to be the underdogs without Brandon, Ivan and those other guys. We’re showing we’re just as good as last year’s team.”
Perez played down the significance of the streak, saying all the win means is Fort Hamilton is now 2-0. His players feel differently.
“It’s a great streak,” Segure said. “We want to keep it going — we want to win every game.”
