A typical high school game contains 80-100 plays. May one play define a game? Is it fair to judge a team or season on one play? In this case this issue involves Miramar. The Class 8A State Runner-Ups, who completed a near Cinderella Season last year, has learned that every season is different. Going into Friday Night’s game at 2-2, many felt this could be their statement game and erase the thoughts of some doubters and catapult the team into prime position to make another playoff run and return to glory. Unfortunately, one play may have changed the Patriots hopes and prayers or at least placed the team in a precarious position. The play will be forever known by me as “The Walk.”
In fairness to all who attended this thriller, the game had lots of drama with other subplots. Both teams had a touchdown or potential touchdowns called back for penalties. To Miramar’s credit, their offense shined bright to formulate two long, balanced touchdown drives. The first was an 11 play, 78 yard drive through a no huddle offense that was led by QB Nick Jeanty and RB Cameron Rigby through most of the first quarter. The second was a 14 play, 91 yard drive led by Jeanty, RB Alex Lee and WR Sean Avant in the 3rd quarter which developed after Cypress Bay failed to score near the Patriots end zone. Both scores enabled the Patriots to regain the lead in what turned out to be more of a “see-saw” affair. While each team shared penalties in this drive and throughout the game, one could be impressed with how well Miramar utilized the entire field.
Cypress Bay scoring was a bit more varied. Unlike Miramar, the Lightning, played on a much shorter field with the longest scoring drive 55 yards. Johnathan Semerene 46 yd FG and a blocked Miramar PAT in the 1st half may have dictated later game decisions once things began to unravel in this bizarre ending. QB Jaranta Lewis’s 6 yard TD run and RB Josh Kaiser’s 16 yard game winning touchdown in the 2nd half looked eerily similar to what many saw from their 2010 state semifinalist team.
The Walk: Leading 17-13, with under 4:00 left in the game, Cypress Bay’s Steven Tuaty punted the ball long and deep to Eric Pittman of Miramar who began the return on the Patriots 36 yard line. Pittman cut to the left, but with precise judgment he reversed the field and ran toward his own sideline bypassing several Lightning defenders. The Miramar crowd which had been quiet for much of the 4th quarter erupted with cheers. When Pittman reached the Cypress Bay 20 and cut back to the center of the field to head off the Tuaty, it looked like a scene from a Hollywood movie. Then, for some unknown reason, as Pittman reached the 5 yard line, he began to run in a backwards, sideways motion which some referred to as a “moonwalk” or “glide”, comparable to what Deion Sanders did sometimes when he scored. By this time, Cypress Bay’s Gavin Anderson reached Pittman and knocked the ball out of his hands. When the play ended, a player from Cypress Bay, who I will not name, pointed at Pittman in a scolding fashion and told him that he did not score and then pointed to the scoreboard.
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Miramar did recover the ball and started on the Cypress Bay 11. That same jubilant crowd became quiet. Maybe they knew what was about to happen next. After an illegal procedure penalty, a botched snap and an incomplete pass, what should have been an easy touchdown was now 4th down and 39 for Miramar. Cypress Bay’s Alex Montgomery would intercept Jeanty’s pass in the end zone on the next play and after each team traded two more turnovers, the game was over.
I am not sure how we should look at Pittman’s play. Is it more about the context that involves the who?, what?, where?, when? or why? Is it because of the timing or magnitude of the game? Is it the fact that up until the end of the play, his execution was so spectacular that I may find it on a D1 recruiting clip? Some argue the play deserves discussion because it was preventable. Either way, this game had many exciting plays on both ends and it is possible that Miramar may get a rematch with Cypress Bay in the playoffs. Fair or not, I will always remember “The Walk.”
