*The stats used in this article for Harry S. Truman’s 27-8 win over Council Rock North on Saturday are courtesy of the Bucks County Courier Times. To read the complete story, click on the following link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times/courier_times_news_details/article/118/2010/october/17/tigers-maul-indians.html
LEVITTOWN – Lionel Chapman smiled at the suggestion that his football team’s season is starting to read like the script to a movie.
“It’s a dramatic story,” the Harry S. Truman senior said and then added with a laugh. “We could probably make a few bucks off of this, and the whole team could split it.”
Chapman was only kidding about ‘making a few bucks’ off his team’s story, but he hit the nail on the head when he called it a dramatic story.
The Truman football saga took yet another remarkable twist on Saturday afternoon when the Tigers rallied from an 8-0 halftime deficit to down Council Rock North 27-8, delighting the spirited crowd that turned out to celebrate Homecoming.
“This win right here feels great,” senior Quinton Bryant said. “It’s homecoming, it’s a party right now. We’re happy.
“I just have to thank my team – they stayed in there, and we fought together. We couldn’t do it without each other. (There are) only 25 of us, and we stick together. We fight together forever.”
This season – the season that almost wasn’t –has taken on a unique perspective.
For the players, coaches, fans and community, simply having a football season is pretty special. Beating a perennial power like Council Rock North – well, that’s even better.
“It does mean more to us because of all the stuff that happened at the beginning – with the season almost being cancelled, the low number of kids, the coach walking out on us,” Bryant said. “We stuck in there, we stayed together and we fought to have a season.
“This season means a lot more to me than other seasons because I feel that everyone is closer. We don’t have that many people, so it makes us a closer family.”
It didn’t matter to anyone on Truman’s sidelines that the Indians – hit with one injury after another - have fallen on hard times this year and have yet to win a game. Nothing could diminish the luster of Saturday’s win to the Tigers.
“Our season was almost cancelled,” Bryant said. “Coming back here for our homecoming – we get a big victory over Council Rock North. It’s a great feeling right now.”
“I don’t know the last time we won on homecoming, and especially after what happened this season – it feels real good,” Chapman added. “It’s turned the whole thing around.
“Truman in a couple of years is going to be someone you don’t mess with, and it started with him.”
Chapman nodded in the direction of coach Ed Cubbage.
“He never gave up on us, and he gave us the attitude that we’re not going to give up on each other,” Chapman said.
“He stepped up when no one else would,” Bryant added. “He motivated us and brought us together. He’s the heart of the team. He’s the reason why we keep fighting on the field. He’s the heart that keeps the Tigers beating.”
Cubbage took over the helm when John Iannuci resigned the Tuesday before the Tigers’ first game after only 16 players turned up at practice the preceding day.
For a while, it looked like there might not be a season, but athletic director George Collins and Cubbage – as well as the 16 remaining players – were firm in their resolve to keep the program afloat.
Ten days later, the team notched a non-league win over Frankford, but the Tigers weren’t over the hump.
On Sept. 24, Truman’s against Council Rock South was halted at halftime with the Tigers trailing 35-0 after Truman lost several players to injuries in the opening half. Many believed this indeed was the death knell for the program.
But the Tigers persevered.
“We went back to the drawing board a little bit, and we got some guys back healthy,” Cubbage said. “Finding a way – that’s what we do.
“We try and find a way and keep working at it. We’re pretty tough. I don’t know if we’re as tough as the 33 Chilean miners, but we’re right there. We’re not far behind.”
Saturday’s win not only was a testimony to the team’s toughness but also to its perseverance and courage.
“A few weeks ago, we were left for dead,” Cubbage said. “To get a win against a team that was in the (district) playoffs last year and has two Division One football players and one of two that are still coming through the program – it’s insane, it’s insane.
“I know they’re having a rough year, but they’re still Council Rock North.”
Saturday’s game marked the return of one of Rock North’s D-1 recruits – Purdue-bound Brandon Cottom, who rushed for 96 yards and one touchdown. His presence in the lineup didn’t faze the Tigers, who overcame five turnovers to earn the come-from-behind win.
“This was huge,” Cubbage said. “We had a great crowd – a ton of alumni were back, and for us to do this on homecoming, it’s really special, especially with everything that happened to us in the last seven weeks.
“We just keep telling the kids, ‘We’re defying the odds.’ They’re typical teenagers – you tell them they can’t do something, and they go and do it. Everyone keeps telling them we shouldn’t be sticking around games. At one point, there was talk about shutting the whole program down, and here we are – we have two wins, and we just beat a team that was in the playoffs last year. Amazing.”
The Tigers accumulated 347 yards on the ground with junior Larry Winton leading the charge, amassing 206 rushing yards in a stellar effort.
“He’s ranked fifth in the SOL,” Chapman said of Winton. “We’re trying to get him number one, so our line is going to keep blocking for him.”
It was Winton’s 52-yard TD run that gave the Tigers a 14-8 lead, and after the Tigers recovered a fumble at their own 18, Winton ran off tackle for 82 yards and a touchdown.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Winton said. “I’m just happy.
“My line was blocking, and I was just running hard. Never quit, never quit.”
Never quit.
Those two words could well be the mantra for a Tiger squad whose players say they had some extra motivation going into Saturday’s game.
“Their coach was talking us down – he said their players were back, and he said he feels bad for Truman because they were going to take their frustration out on us,” Chapman said. “Look what happened – a lot of frustration they had, huh? That’s what I’m talking about.”
“All the people that doubt us – that’s just fuel right there,” Bryant added. “It builds up inside of us and makes us want to play harder. This is what happens at the end of the game – we win.”
The season, according to Chapman, has taught everyone valuable life lessons.
“It has given me more dedication,” he said. “To stick through something like this and not give up – I know I can do things out in the real world. When things get hard and people walk out on me, I can stick through it and work through it.
“Playing on this field is like life. You have a family – my head coach was part of my family, and he walked out on me, so I’ve got to keep moving on. It hurts, but you have to move on. This is going to teach me a lot of life lessons. That’s one thing it did teach us – this is like life.”
Cubbage acknowledged that adversity is nothing new to many of his players.
“Some of my kids – their whole lives are adversity, and here they are – they just keep plugging away, plugging away,” the Tigers’ coach said. “We needed to keep this thing going.
“The players just love playing. We wanted to do it, especially for our 11 seniors. We wanted to give those 11 guys memories, and this is a great one. This will be with me forever. This is a great one.”
An entire Truman community will undoubtedly file this memory away with the very special ones, and perhaps no one deserved this day more than the 25 players who quite simply do not know the meaning of the word quit.
NOTES: Chapman returned an interception 53 yards for the game’s final touchdown. Bryant kicked the extra point. Senior quarterback Derron Thompson put the Tigers on the scoreboard with a 15-yard TD run on a huge fourth-down play. Ramsey took it in for the two-point conversion to knot the score 8-8.
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