10/11/2024
(Seattle, WA) After Roosevelt’s Zaire Griffin scored his 4th touchdown of the night, Eastside Catholic trailed 26-7 with 6:29 left. No one could have foreseen what would happen next. The Crusaders scored 20 points in the final three and a half minutes, including the winning touchdown from Nick Jones with four seconds left.
The win ties Eastside Catholic in the Metro League Standings with Roosevelt at 4-1.
The game began with Zaire Griffin wasting no time, returning the opening kickoff to the Rough Rider 48. On the first play from scrimmage, Griffin raced 52 yards to put Roosevelt in front 6-0, 17 seconds in.
After a Crusader punt, Griffin capped off Roosevelt’s second drive spanning 90 yards, with a 31-yard touchdown run, to give Roosevelt a 13-0 lead with 5:20 left in the first quarter.
Eastside Catholic turned the ball over on downs on their next possession.
Zaire Griffin again went to work. This time catching a deep ball from quarterback Dalton Anderson for a 59-yard touchdown catch, with the extra point missed. Roosevelt led 19-0, 34 seconds into the 2nd quarter.
Eastside Catholic would respond on the ensuing possession four minutes later with a touchdown pass from quarterback Isaac Corey to Robert Ingram from 34 yards out.
Roosevelt went into halftime with a 19-7 lead.
The third quarter saw no scoring, but no could envision the chaos the fourth quarter would bring.
After an Eastside Catholic turnover on downs, Roosevelt got the football with 7:30 left with their 12-point lead.
Griffin sprinted on a deep post and corralled a 54-yard touchdown with 6:13 left in the game, Roosevelt led 26-7.
Eastside Catholic got the ball back catered with a 48-yard kickoff return from Jaylyn Keller.
Asa Thompson caught a 38-yard pass on the first play of the drive, and Jeremiah Burroughs finished the drive with a short touchdown catch. Burroughs punched in the two-point conversion to cut the Roosevelt lead to 26-15 with 3:33 left.
Eastside Catholic was unable to recover the onside kick, and Roosevelt was in the driver seat, for so it appeared.
With the Rough Riders attempting to run out the clock, Griffin fumbled. Waswa Lugolobi scooped up the loose ball for the Crusaders with a return to the Roosevelt 10 with 2:24 left.
Carson McKelheer caught a five-yard pass from quarterback Isaac Corey and all of a sudden the Crusaders were within a score.
On the two-point conversion attempt, running back Nick Jones dropped what would have been a sure conversion, and the Crusaders trailed 26-21 with 1:46 left.
Again, Eastside Catholic could not recover the onside kick, and Roosevelt got the ball back with 1:46 left on their own 41 with Eastside Catholic having two timeouts left.
Roosevelt ran it twice for a total of two yards expending the remaining timeouts for Eastside Catholic.
With the game on the line on third and 8, Dalton Anderson heaved a deep pass for Cass Bolong-Banks, but the pass was defended away by Jaylyn Keller. The clock stopped with 1:26 remaining.
After Roosevelt punted and Jeremiah Burroughs ran back the Roosevelt punt to the Rider 46, the Crusaders had 1:14 to work with for a go-ahead score.
The first play of the drive saw Jeremiah Burroughs on full display. Burroughs’ caught a short screen pass and broke two tackles to gain an extra 30 yards to the Roosevelt 12 yard line.
Four plays later, Nick Jones after dropping the last two point conversion found redemption.
In the wildcat, Jones rushed in the game winner with four seconds left, to give the Crusaders an unbelievable 27-26 win.
Eastside Catholic erased a 19-point deficit in the final 3:33 to shock Roosevelt.
Isaac Corey was named our Elisportsnetwork.com MVP of the game finishing with 225 yards and 3 touchdown passes.
Roosevelt’s Zaire Griffin was an honorable mention with 186 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and 136 yards receiving and a pair of touchdown receptions for a total of 332 yards and four touchdowns.
Eastside Catholic will host Seattle Prep Friday at 7:00p while Roosevelt hosts Rainier Beach Friday at 7:45p at Memorial Field on ESN.
To catch the entirety of this classic, Click Here (Subscription Required).
Here is the ESN Postgame Show with Highlights of the game below.
ESN Postgame Show
Zaire Griffin Scores on First Play from Scrimmage
Zaire Griffin First TD Catch
Griffin Gives Roosevelt Added Insurance
Waswa Lugolobi Fumble Return
Eastside Catholic 3rd Down Stop
Burroughs Catch and Run
Nick Jones Winning Touchdown
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