Tech nips Fort for championship

It was a contest of this season’s two recently rising high school football teams that took similar paths to the PSAL Division 3A Championship game.

On Saturday, Nov. 30, the first-seeded Fort Hamilton Tigers hosted the third-seeded Brooklyn Tech Engineers at Old Boys High Field in East Flatbush. After several subpar years, both teams finally finished with winning seasons last year to make a playoff appearance. This season the teams mirrored each other with identical 7-1 regular season records. Oddly enough, Tech’s only loss came at the hands of a 24-21 Tiger win, while Fort Hamilton’s only loss was a 28-26 overtime loss to A. Phillip Randolph.

For this All-Brooklyn championship, it only took Fort Hamilton just two plays to score as the Tigers’ top running back Trey Marshall ran the ball to the 22-yard line from midfield. The 3A Division’s top quarterback Aidan Farley then followed with a touchdown pass to the division’s top receiver August Porter for an early 8-0 lead. For the Engineers’ first possession, the Tigers stopped Tech at the 10-yard line where Matan Abir split the uprights for a 30-yard field goal to end the first quarter with an 8-3 score.

In the second quarter, the Engineers caught fire with an interception by Nathaniel Shulman and three touchdown runs (five yards, 18 yards and four yards) by their top MVP running back Tristan Suarez. Fort Hamilton answered with a six-yard quarterback keeper by Farley to end the first half with a 24-16 Tech lead.

On the Engineers’ first possession of the third quarter, Tiger defender Ajani Care-Robinson blocked a punt at the Tech 44-yard line to set up Fort Hamilton’s next score.  With the ball back in their possession, the Tigers tied the game at 24-24 on a pass to a streaking Zaire Thomas in the corner of the end zone.

The Tigers started off the fourth quarter with an interception by Carew-Robinson that set up a 10-yard touchdown run by Manny King for a 30-24 lead. The Engineers then answered with a 27-yard TD pass from QB Michael Jung to Erza Josse to tie the game at 30-30. For this punch-counterpunch fourth quarter, the Tigers regained the lead 36-30 on a 47-yard Marshall run, but failed to score on their 2-point conversion attempt. On their next possession, the Engineers’ Suarez scored his fourth touchdown on an 18-yard run along with a successful extra point kick to put Tech ahead, 37-36. 

Regaining the ball on the 20-yard line on the kickoff with two minutes left on the clock, Tiger QB Farley led his team 65 yards down to the Tech 15-yard line on a series of passes, long runs and penalties. On fourth down with no time outs left and the clock ticking down, Tiger coach Dan Perez sent in QB Farley for a field goal attempt to win the game. Generally, a 32-yard field goal is within Farley’s range, but the last attempt to win the championship went awry as the ball sailed wide of the left upright for the 37-36 Brooklyn Tech championship win.

Considering that 1972 was the last time that Brooklyn Tech appeared in a PSAL championship, “This was a tremendous championship game for us to win,” said Brooklyn Tech coach Brian Pugh. “The hard work put in by the team and the coaching staff during the off season and the regular season really paid off. We even had tremendous support from the alumni.”

Concerning his opponent, Pugh said, “We went up against a very good Fort Hamilton team coached by Dan Perez. I have a lot of respect for the way that he and his coaches put together such a well coached and successful team this season.”