 High School Football:
Tigers Scratch Out Big Win
Saturday, December 1, 2001
By Gregory "Graig" White
SJSports Staff Writer
Most people involved in sports like to talk stats and trends. Well the most compelling stat about the Woodrow Wilson High School football team was, every time they got dressed to play this year they won! Even when they fell behind an Egg Harbor Township team you didn't get the sense that there was any panic from the Tigers. Led by a defense that made Egg Harbor earn every yard they got, it truly was a game for the ages.
Wilson got on the score board after a big run by Jerald Hornsby that took the ball from the Wilson 17 to the Township 31, you got the sense that the Tigers were in business. Three plays later Jamil Tyson slips while dropping back and still walked into the endzone from eight yards out. The P.A.T. was blocked leaving the Tigers with a 6-0 lead. With the remaining 26 seconds in the half, Egg Harbor mounted a drive that almost saw them put points on the board. As time was running out, Shaun Kent's pass was intercepted in the endzone to end the half.
 The second half started and you could sense that the Tigers knew that they were 24 minutes from perfection. The teams came out and pretty much just picked up from where they left off. Hitting anything that wasn't wearing the right colors, then it happened. Punting out of their own endzone into a stiff breeze, Luis Cortes' punt was blocked and recovered by Egg Harbor's John Christiansen, knotting the score at 6-6.
Wilson's next possession saw them go three and out and then it happened again, Jason Vasquez, doing his best Randy Moss impression, got behind the Wilson secondary and was hit in stride by Shaun Kent. Sixty-six yards later with a 2 point conversion, it is now 14-6 in favor of Egg Harbor Township.
How much adversity could one team take. The mood on the Township sideline was jubilant and after we all know now, kind of premature. Jamil Tyson and the Tigers come storming back in the final minute of the third quarter. Wilson got a huge break when Daud Holden recovered a fumble at the Egg Harbor 1 yard line. Jamil took the snap and behind a line that blocked like they had something to prove fell into the endzone. Luis Cortes caught the 2 point conversion and the score was now 14-14. The Tigers were now twelve minutes away from perfection.
The fourth quarter was all Wilson, set up by a 53 yard run by Haneef Anderson. Tyson hooked up with Turk McBride for a 20 yard score giving them a 20-14 lead with 5:04 left. A lead the looked like it could have been protected, but Coach McBride and his staff were taking no chances managed another score. This time a 2 yard score by Jerald Hornsby iced the game, 27-14, on a day that saw the Wilson High School athletic department lose money on all the game balls they had to hand out. One thing could now be said, Woodrow Wilson High School is the new home of the South Jersey Group 3 Champions.
Photos by Forrest Robleto
               
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High School Football:
