The Miracle in the Valley

Last Friday night, the Crespi varsity football team defeated Notre Dame 34-28 to advance to the PAC 5 playoffs. Crespi's record is 7-3. The Celts play Los Alamitos at Long Beach Veterans Stadium on Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 7:00 pm in a first round game.

The first half was dominated by Notre Dame as they won the field position battle and held a 28-7 lead at the half. Crespi punted three times in the first quarter as their offense never could get into a rhythm. It did not help that they started every possession inside their own twenty yard line. First half highlights for the Celts: Kenny Stenhouse ’11 threw a seventy-three yard touchdown pass to Chris Harper ’12 and Charles Washington '11 blocked a field goal attempt.

The second half was the polar opposite of the first half and the Celt defense made their voices heard loud and clear as they forced punts on ND's first three possessions of the second half. Early in the third quarter, Crespi converted two fourth down plays to keep drives alive, culminating in a Terry Williams ’12 two yard touchdown run to close the gap to 28-14. Crespi took advantage of great field position on their second possession of the third quarter, once again culminating in a Celt score as Stenhouse rolled to his left and, just before being forced out of bound, threw a strike to “Mike-Mike” Davison ‘’12 in the end zone for another Celt touchdown. The score was 28-21 and the momentum was clearly on the Celts side.

In the fourth quarter, Notre Dame intercepted a pass in Celt territory and seemed to seize control of the game. But the Celt defense held ND without a first down and forced another Knight punt. Crespi put the ball in Terry Williams' hands on the ensuing drive and he delivered in a big way. Williams gained sixty-eight all-purpose yards on receptions and rushes, helping to sustain the long scoring drive. On third and goal from the one yard line, Stenhouse ran the option, faked the pitch to Williams and dove into the end zone to tie the score at 28.

What followed next in the game will go down in Crespi football history as the most amazing and spectacular finish to a football game. The Celts defense stopped Notre Dame near midfield, forced a punt with thirty-eight seconds left. The punt rolled and rolled and rolled, finally stopping at the Celt eight yard line with twenty-seven seconds left. Stenhouse completed passes of seventeen yards to Davison and nine yards to Williams. With the ball on the Celt thirty-four yard line and only four seconds left on the clock, Crespi called time out. It looked as if the teams were headed for overtime, or maybe Notre Dame thought so. But Crespi had other ideas.

Stenhouse dropped back to pass, after avoiding pressure, he then flipped a pass to Davison who caught the ball four yards behind the line of scrimmage. Davison faked a pass and then headed off running down the right sideline with a convoy of blockers in front of him. He cut inside at midfield, but was grabbed by a Knight defender at the forty-five yard line. Davison flipped the ball perfectly to Williams who darted down the Knight sideline. Williams avoided a tackler at the thirty yard line, broke a tackle at the twenty, and with a Knight defender clinging to him, Williams dove for the end zone from the four yard line. (How his knees never hit the ground amazes me after watching the video three times.) After a few agonizing seconds, the officials signaled a CRESPI TOUCHDOWN. Pandemonium ensued as the Celts stormed the field in jubilation.

Stenhouse completed twenty-six passes for three hundred seventy-five yards and three touchdown passes. Harper caught six passes for one hundred thirty-six yards, while Davison caught seven passes for one hundred twenty-two yards. Williams caught five balls for yards, added forty-six yards rushing, and more importantly gained forty-five yards on the final play.

James Bononi ’82