Wheeling Park Patriots came through when it mattered.

Patriots Close With Victory Over Bruins

With their backs against the wall, the Wheeling Park Patriots came through when it mattered.

The Patriots stopped a Brooke rally short with less than two minutes to play in the game, pulling out a 21-20 victory over the Bruins Friday night at Wheeling Island Stadium.

"I'm very proud of our football team,'' said Park head coach Mark Nardone. "You know, when you're not playing very well, sometimes it's really easy to go out and go through the motions, but our kids didn't do that. That's just a tribute to this staff and these kids.''

The Patriots benefited from a missed extra point by the Bruins on the possible game-tying touchdown in the four quarter.

"It's just a tough one to lose,'' said Brooke head coach Dave Reitter. "When you lose by one point, a lot of times you second guess yourself. But you can't second guess the effort of the kids.''

Reitter was pleased with the effort of his Brooke team, even though it suffered the program's fourth straight .500 season.

"When we came to the game today, we talked about leaving everything on the field and playing the best football game as possible,'' said Reitter. "We faced a lot of situations where it looked like we were down and out, but our kids just bounced back.

"Our defense stepped up, the offensive line did a great job, (quarterback) Jimmy (Reitter) found his open receivers and (tailback) Ryan Cagot just ran his tail off.''

Cagot was the game's leading rusher with 163 yards on 25 carries. Time and again, his tough running over, through and around Wheeling Park defenders kept the Bruins in the game.

"If he found a little crease, he just took it,'' Reitter said. "He ran like he was possessed today.''

The Patriots did stop the Bruins when it mattered, however.

"We knew Ryan was a hard runner and were a little concerned with (receiver) Garey Wallace,'' said Nardone, "but we did what we had to do.

"I thought defensively we played in spurts. Sometimes we looked really good and other times it looked like they were going through us pretty well.

"It went the same way offensively. Some times it looked like we could just move down the field, but other times we would just shoot ourselves in the foot with a messed up formation.''

The Patriots opened the scoring with a Jimmy Burress two-yard scoring plunge up the middle with 3:25 in the first quarter. But Ryan Horan's PAT was blocked by Patrick DeGarmo, leaving the score at 6-0.

Park then went up 13-0 on its next series as Ronnie Green reeled in a 21-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Matt Pearson at the 1 yard line. Green spun out of the hands of a defender and fell into the end zone for the touchdown with 10:27 remaining in the second quarter.

Brooke responded in a big way at the end of the half as Jimmy Reitter found receiver Scott Bonaventura from 13 yards out with just 11 seconds remaining. Jose Fuentes' PAT cut the deficit to 13-7 at halftime.

Burress scored Park's final touchdown of the night to open the fourth quarter, finding paydirt from 12 yards out. Along with his two scores, Burress romped for 96 yards on 25 carries.

Matt Pearson's 2-point conversion run put the score at 21-7.

Brooke again trimmed the deficit to a touchdown in the fourth as Bruin fullback Chris Nemeth found the end zone on a one-yard plunge.

The Bruin defense then pushed the Patriots back on the next drive, forcing a punt.

The Brooke offense took full advantage of the next possession, driving 53 yards before Reitter scored on a quarterback sneak with 4:27 left in the game.

But the ensuing PAT try bounced off the left upright, leaving the Bruins behind, 21-20.

The Park defense took over from there, stopping Brooke cold on its final possession. The Patriots got the turnover on downs after senior defensive end Ryan Akers broke into the backfield on three straight plays, forcing two incompletions and batting down Reitter's fourth down pass attempt.

Overall, Nardone was very pleased with the win, but he also noted his concern for Brooke's two injured players in the game. Junior lineman A.J. Thomas left the game with an ankle injury, while sophomore wide receiver Scott Victorio sustained a wrist injury.

"First of all, there's two kids that were seriously hurt for Brooke High School,'' Nardone said. "We as a Wheeling Park program hope that it's not real serious and that their recover is quick. That's our No. 1 concern, because we hate to see anybody get hurt.

"Second of all,'' he continued, "I know how Brooke feels. We've been through that twice (in three point losses to Morgantown and John Marshall). But we deserved to win this football game today.

I'm happy for our kids, I'm happy for our seniors, I'm happy for our program because it was a big win.''