For most of the night, the big, explosive play had eluded Shabazz and its high-powered offense.
But when the Bulldogs’ title hopes on the brink, an offense, which had been largely grounded up until that point, came through in the most critical of moments.
Karriem Coston found a wide open Faheem Ausbon on a wheel route for a 54-yard touchdown pass with 1:25 remaining, which proved to be the game winning score as top-seeded Shabazz avoided an upset to defeat seventh-seeded Madison, 26-16, in the NJSIAA/Xfinity, North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 final at Shabazz Stadium in Newark.
It is the third consecutive sectional title for the Brick City school. Shabazz (11-1) now travels to face North 1, Group 2 champion Westwood in the Group 2 semifinals on Friday.
Madison was seeking its first title since 2012, when it won three consecutive championships under head coach Chris Kubik.
Friday night was Kubik’s final game as Dodgers head coach as he is retiring after 19 seasons.
Shabazz’s hopes were seemingly dashed when it turned the ball over on downs, down 16-14, with less than five minutes left.
Zykir Best gave the Bulldogs one more chance when he brought down Madison’s Luke McGuire short of the marker on a 4th-and-4, giving Shabazz one more chance at its own 25 with 2:16 remaining.
Coston completed back-to-back passes Nosym Brown and Zaiden McDonald, totalling 19 yards before finding Ausbon for the touchdown.
Faced with going 80 yards in 79 seconds with no timeouts, McGuire completed consecutive passes to AJ Eldridge to reach its own 39 yard line.
But a sack, a false start and a McGuire scramble left Madison with a 4th-and-9 with just nine seconds remaining. On fourth down, Nasir Richardson jumped in front of McGuire’s desperation heave and returned the interception 53 yards for a score to end the game.
Costom, who quarterbacked Shabazz to the Group 2 final a year ago opened the scoring with a 19-yard screen pass to Nosym Brown for a TD just 58 seconds into the second quarter.
The score was the only one Shabazz, which had scored 35 or more points five times during its eight-game winning streak, until the fourth quarter when Nyree Bailey took a jet sweep 13 yards for a touchdown, which gave the Bulldogs a 14-13 lead in the fourth quarter.
Madison regained the lead at 16-14 with Matt Russo’s 28-yard field goal with 5:25 remaining.
The Dodgers took a 13-7 lead into halftime thanks to two touchdowns in a span of 3:47. Liam Melvin scored from 1 yard out with 4:16 left in the second quarter and, with 27 seconds left, McGuire scrambled left and found Carter Feris in the back of the end zone for a 17-yard score.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison (7-4) | 0 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 16 |
| Shabazz (10-1) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 19 | 26 |
Second Quarter
Shabazz — Nosym Brown, 19 pass from Karriem Coston (Basit Raimi kick), 11:02
Madison — Liam Melvin, 1 run (kick fail), 4:16
Madison — Carter Feris, 17 pass from Luke McGuire (kick), 0:29
Fourth Quarter
Shabazz — Nyree Bailey, 13 pass from Karriem Coston (Basit Riami kick), 10:25
Madison — Matt Russo, 28 field goal, 5:35
Shabazz — Faheem Ausbon 54 pass from Karriem Coston (kick blocked), 1:25
Shabazz — Nasir Richardson, 53 interception return, 0:00
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