After his 24th and final rushing attempt brought a seemingly endless playoff football game to a dramatic conclusion, Brody Leonard still needed to make one more run.
That was in the direction of his older brothers, Jay and John Foley, former Haddonfield stars whose younger sibling honors their legacy through the number on his jersey and the tenacity of his play.
“After I scored, I ran right over to my two older brothers, who I watched win championships on this field,” Leonard said after leading Haddonfield to a 20-14 victory over Willingboro in double overtime in an NJSIAA/Xfinity South Jersey Group 2 tournament opener. “To be able to get the chance to possibly do that, there’s nothing I want more.”
Leonard did his part to keep alive top-seeded Haddonfield’s dreams of another sectional title, if not more, on a windy Halloween night at the Bulldogs’ old stadium behind the high school on Kings Highway.
The sturdy senior running back gained 131 yards and scored two touchdowns, the last a dramatic 12-yard burst into the end zone that brought a taut, evenly-played battle to a close nearly three hours after it began.
“Best 8-seed in the damn country and you can quote me on that,” Haddonfield coach Frank DeLano said of Willingboro, which pushed the No. 1 seed to the brink and came within a barely-missed field goal in the first overtime of registering an upset of seismic proportions.
“Inches,” Willingboro coach Kenny Scott of the just-wide-left field-goal attempt at the end of the first overtime.
The kick, so close that Willingboro’s cheerleaders erupted in premature jubilation before officials made the no-good signal, was the difference between a wild celebration and the heart-wrenching alternative, with several distraught players on the ground after Leonard’s touchdown ended the game.
Willingboro (4-6) was a drastically different team than the one that lost 39-8 to Haddonfield on September 12.
The Chimeras controlled the clock with a powerful ground game as senior Mekhi Cottle carried 24 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns and junior Taj Boaten carried 26 times for 156 yards.
“I’m just so proud of these guys,” Scott said. “They fought and they fought. Every twist and turn of this game, they didn’t flinch. They stayed sturdy.
“But we made one mistake and that will cost you against a great tea like Haddonfield.”
The mistake came on the first play of the second overtime, when Haddonfield senior defensive lineman P.J. Crosier Thompson recovered a fumble that resulted from a mishandled pitchout.
“It’s a little bit of a blur,” Crosier Thompson said of the play. “It was just amazing. Nothing you can really describe. Just waves of joy.”
The play tilted the momentum hard in Haddonfield’s direction, and the Bulldogs took full advantage by sending Leonard into the heart of Willingboro’s defense on four consecutive carries.
He went for two, five, six and the final 12 yards, following blocks from Cormac Flanagan and Jack McKeever on his way into the end zone
“My coach, being able to trust me like that, I take a lot of pride in that,” Leonard said.
Leonard scored Haddonfield’s first touchdown, capping a game-opening, 56-yard drive with a six-yard burst around the right side.
Willingboro went 80 yards on 16 plays, evening the score at 7-7 on Cottle’s one-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
The second half was a repeat, as Haddonfield scored on its first possession, with senior quarterback Van Lefakis reaching the end zone on a one-yard run.
Willingboro answered again, going 51 yards on seven running plays. Boaten gained 37 yards on the first four, and Cottle the remaining 14 on the last three, including a seven-yard scoring burst.
“They had a great plan,” DeLano said of Willingboro.
Neither team could score in the final 15 minutes of regulation or through the first overtime, tension building along both sidelines and in the stands.
Haddonfield got the game’s big break on Crosier Thompson’s fumble recovery, and Leonard and the blockers in front of him took care of the rest.
Haddonfield (7-2) will host the winner of Saturday’s game between fifth-seeded Gloucester and fourth-seeded Lower Cape May in next weekend’s sectional semifinals.
Leonard wears No. 25 because his older brother Jay wore No. 2 for the Bulldogs and his older brother John wore No. 5.
“He’s in tears tonight,” DeLano said of Leonard. “(No.) Twenty-five had two brothers that played for us, John and Jay. They weren’t bad players. Brody doesn’t have to be Johnny or Jay. He’s just got to be Brody and Brody is darn good. He’s a special player and he’s a tremendous leader.”
Leonard said his brothers had a message for him when he ran to them after his game-winning score: Go get another piece of hardware for the family trophy case.
“As soon as I got there, they told me they love me and to make sure we get another one,” Leonard said. “We’ve got the guys to do it and we’re going to do it.”
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