Sammy wins battle of undefeated teams over TKE 13-8

Oscar Baldizon/Contributing Writer

As soon as you walked out onto the intramural football fields on Sept. 24, you could feel the “electricity” in the air as coach Christopher Mendez stated in his pre-game speech to the Sigma Alpha Mu team. This battle of undefeated squads came down to the last play with Sammy pulling off a dramatic 13-8 win over Tau Kappa Epsilon.

After a botched snap on Sammy’s first play resulted in a safety for TKE, quarterback George Landis opened up the game with a convincing drive where he went four for four throwing the football and finished with a 15-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Zak Patterson.

Both teams would play great defense which led to only a few drives in the half but when Sammy got their chance they scored as well. Quarterback Michael Carabeo ended their drive with a touchdown that was caught by the wide receiver Luis Santiesteban.

“That’s just my motivation to dive for those balls, grab those flags, and hope for the best,” Luis Santiesteban said after two great defensive knock down in the secondary to stop TKE from scoring again the first half.

This game was to be determined in the second half and be given to the team that fought the hardest. Sammy’s defense started the second half with an interception by Robert Alfaro. After the turnover, Carabeo directed his team down the field to the eventual game-winning touchdown.

Landis almost changed everything when he intercepted Carabeo and returned it for a touchdown but it wasn’t meant to be as it was called for a roughing the passer penalty. After catching a break, Carabeo showed flashes of great mobility at the quarterback position and chewed up a lot of clock eventually punching it in from two yards out for the rushing touchdown.

Then it was time for Sammy’s defense to step up. Pressuring the TKE quarterback well led to harder passing attempts which the defense was able to shut down. Sammy was able to match the speed of TKE’s John Marin at the wide receiver position and only gave up short passes and no big plays.

Sammy’s offense had the job of icing the game and needed a drive to leave TKE with as little time as possible to overtake their lead. They opened up their second drive of the half with a 40-yard strike to wide receiver Mario Valcourt. That drive would leave TKE with only 43 seconds to drive and overcome the 13-8 deficit.

Landis was able to string together three consecutive dump off throws that put them within 15 yards of a touchdown and victory, and with three seconds left in the game Sammy’s defense stepped up. Valcourt was able to knock down the last pass of the game and propel the team to victory.

“I think we’re the best and any fraternity can come out here and try and prove us wrong,” Carabeo said after the game.

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