That's why, when it was announced over the public address system at Somers last night that Ossining beat Harrison, the Tuskers players cheered from the sidelines. No. 1A Somers then took care of its end, beating No. 4B Nyack 20-10 in a Class A quarterfinal.
"Our whole team is just craving that game," Tullgren said. "We wanted to win so bad. We wanted Ossining to beat Harrison. We just want this game so bad."
The Tuskers (7-1) will host No. 3B Ossining (7-1) Tuesday night. But first they had to get past a young but athletic Nyack team that came in with three wins in its last four games - and the one loss was by one point to league champion Eastchester.
Sanley Pierre-Louis' 27-yard field goal brought the Indians (4-4) within 17-10 with 7:24 left, and a penalty on the ensuing kickoff gave Somers the ball on its 11. But the Tuskers, behind tough inside running from Rob Lombardo and sweeps by Tullgren and Dylan Haas, got five first downs and ran more than six minutes off the clock. Tullgren, who hadn't made a field goal all season before last night, then drilled his second of the game, a 37-yarder with 1:12 left, to seal the win.
"That was the key to the game. We were finally able to move the football," Somers coach Tony DeMatteo said.
Lombardo, who capped the Tuskers first two possessions with 2-yard touchdown runs, finished with 132 yards on 27 carries. He touched the ball six times on Somers' first possession, when the Tuskers drove 69 yards on 10 plays, including a 28-yard run on third-and-nine and the 2-yard touchdown on first-and-goal.
Nyack, using more balance, answered right back with a 78-yard drive on just eight plays. Freshman Venson Constant had a 17-yard run, junior Anthony Davis had a 13-yard run, and sophomore quarterback Raymond Nichols flipped the ball to junior Anthony Davis on the option just before being tackled, leading to a 20-yard score.
The extra point by Pierre-Louis gave the Indians a 7-6 lead, but the momentum didn't last past the next kickoff, which Haas returned 52 yards to the Nyack 35. Two straight completions from Tom McGuire to Haas got Somers out of a third-and-23 hole, and Lombardo scored on his second two-yard touchdown run of the half to make it 12-7. Haas added the 2-point conversion.
Tuskers fullback/linebacker Glen Bernardi fumbled the ball on his own 26 on Somers' next offensive play, but made up for it with an interception on Nyack's series, after a crushing hit by Andrew Madigan forced the ball to pop loose from the Indians receiver.
Nyack's next turnover was more costly. After Joe Marasco stripped Brandon Johnson and recovered at the Nyack 35 with 1:40 left in the half, a 30-yard completion from Erik Zmuidins to Haas led to a 23-yard field goal from Tullgren with 25 seconds left.
Freshman Venson Constant led the Indians with 94 yards on 13 carries.
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