Ruddy 61-Yard Touchdown Catch from Allen, 'Big Mac' TD Pass to Lagunowich Help Chatham Football Snap its 'Cougar Night' Blues
By Ed Barmakian,
1 days ago
Chatham quarterback Will Allen (left) threw two touchdown passes in the win vs. Roxbury, including a 61-yard pass play to senior Kyle Ruddy (right), on the right, in the first quarter for Ruddy's first career TD Credits: TAP Chatham
SUCCASUNNA, NJ – Over the past three years, the thrill of a “Cougar Night” football win in front of a boisterous home crowd for Chatham has wilted into a deflating lopsided loss in the next game on the schedule.
Chatham football coach Evan Picariello's edict this week to his players was that the trend had to end.
“The biggest thing going into this week and I told the guys on Monday, we've been 3-0 on Cougar Nights the last three years and then we're 0-3 the week after Cougar Night,” Picariello said. “We've been outscored by opponents 103 to 47 in those losses, so, I wrote that on the board on Monday.”
Chatham erased those bad memories on Friday night with its highest-scoring win of the season, 45-7 at Roxbury for its third straight victory while improving its record to 4-1.
Senior Kyle Ruddy made his first career touchdown reception on a 61-yard pass play from quarterback Will Allen to open the scoring; Allen followed with a six-yard TD pass to Nick Lagunowich , and Chatham ran its “Trio left Big Mac” play on fourth down to score with 14 seconds left in the half on receiver Michael MacAniff's 37-yard touchdown pass to Lagunowich for a 21-0 lead at the break.
Will Allen, Kyle Ruddy, Caden Gabriele, Alex McWilliams, Michael MacAniff and Nick Lagunowich talk about the win
Chatham won the coin toss and decided to kick off to Roxbury (1-5) and the Gaels were forced to punt after linebacker Hunter Bigham's tackle for a loss for Chatham on third down. On its third play from scrimmage, Allen threw over the top to a wide-open Ruddy for the 61-yard TD (see below). Alex McWilliams made the first of six extra points for a 7-0 lead with 9:10 left in the first.
After the ensuing kickoff, Roxbury went three-and-out again, before Allen engineered an 11-play, 54-yard drive, which featured a 23-yard burst by Cougar running back Caden Gabriele to the Gaels' five-yard line. After a penalty pushed Chatham back to the 10, Gabriele gained four yards before Allen rolled right and hit Lagunowich in the end zone (see below) for a six-yard score and a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
The score stayed the same until late in the second quarter when Roxbury punted and Chatham took over on its own 19 with 1:31 left in the half. Allen's passing keyed the 81-yard march with a 27-yard pass play to Sonny Arden and a 16-yard advance on a throw to Lagunowich.
But it took a play Chatham pulled out of its bag of tricks to get into the end zone. On fourth down with just 22 seconds left at the Roxbury 37, the Cougars called “Trio Left Big Mac”. The play calls for Allen to throw a quick pass to receiver MacAniff behind the line of scrimmage and backup quarterback MacAniff then passes it forward to Lagunowich for the touchdown. The play went exactly as it was drawn up (see below).
“We've been practicing it all season and we've been waiting to pull it out and use it in a game," said MacAniff of his first pass thrown this season. “We had the perfect opportunity and took it tonight.”
Chatham opened the second half with a drive that resulted in a 31-yard field goal by McWilliams for a 24-0 lead. Linebacker Gabriele then picked off a pass for the third straight game to give Chatham possession at the Roxbury 25. Five plays later, McWilliams took a pitch from Allen and raced around left end for a 10-yard touchdown run. McWilliams' PAT made it 31-0 with 5:53 left in the third.
After Roxbury scored its only touchdown with 19 seconds left in the third quarter, the Cougars drove 68 yards for a score, capped by Allen's 8-yard keeper for a touchdown (see below).
With both teams going with their second string for the rest of the fourth quarter, sophomore linebacker Will Richie intercepted a pass and took it in for the “Pick Six” with 2:59 showing. McWilliams' PAT gave Chatham its highest point total of the season, eclipsing the 44 points it scored on “Cougar Night” vs. Livingston.
“We had a great week of practice leading into this game,” Picariello said. “We're playing good complementary football and I like the direction our team is headed in right now.”
COUGAR NOTES : Junior linebacker/running back Caden Gabriele's interception in the third quarter set up a touchdown run by Alex McWilliams and gave him a pick in three straight games for the Cougars. Gabriele has one “Pick Six” and was joined by sophomore Will Richie who ran his interception in for a “Pick Six” vs. Roxbury in th fourth quarter to give Chatham its 8th interception of the season … junior receiver/backup QB Michael MacAniff threw his first pass of the season, a 37-yard TD to Nick Lagunowich , who had two touchdown catches in the game to give him a team-leading five on the season … senior running back/placekicker Alex McWilliams ran for a touchdown, kicked the third field goal of his career, his longest to date of 31 yards, and also hit six of six PATs in the game. McWilliams has five rushing touchdowns and 53 points scored this season. In his career, McWilliams has connected on 67 of 69 PATs … senior QB Will Allen now has nine touchdown passes and three rushing TDs this year … Chatham plays host to Mendham (4-1) in a 3 p.m. game on Friday, Oct. 11 at Cougar Field. The Minutemen have won four of the last five meetings vs. Chatham including last year when they outscored the Cougars, 17-0, in the second half to post a 24-13 win. In that game, Mendham's triple option piled up 252 rushing yards and three TDs vs. Chatham, led by Cole Capuzzi with 127 running yards.
Chatham (4-1) 14 7 10 14 – 45
Roxbury (1-5) 0 0 7 0 – 7
C-Ruddy 61 pass from Allen (McWilliams kick)
C-Lagunowich 6 pass from Allen (McWilliams kick_
C-Lagunowich 37 pass from MacAniff (McWilliams kick)
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