Storm wins again! 89-yard TD pass is game winner

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Storm wins again! 89-yard TD pass is game winner

Sports

Wednesday, 22 September 2010 11:32

News-Gazette Photos/Andrew Sullivan

Celebration quarterback Miguel Torres-Bruno (12) throws a pass that resulted in the game-winning 89-yard TD play.

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
A win at Lake Wales at 7 p.m. Friday would give the Celebration football team its first-ever district victory.
The task is daunting, but the Storm’s been ending plenty of droughts lately.
Celebration, thanks to an 89-yard touchdown connection from Miguel Torres-Bruno to Brandon Archambeau with 2:36 left last week against Palm Bay Heritage, won 14-10 to claim its first back-to-back victories in four seasons.

The Storm (2-1) is now over .500 for the first time since they beat Poinciana, 14-12, on Sept. 29, 2006, to go to 3-2 and register their last winning streak. It was also its first home win since beating Tenoroc, 7-6, on Homecoming night 2008. Like the week prior, Celebration won after falling behind. The Panthers (1-1) led 7-0 six minutes into the game when Dedric Witherspoon intercepted Torres-Bruno and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown. The Storm would answer in the second quarter, capping a 60-yard drive with a 28-yard scoring strike from Torres-Bruno to Tyler Osorio. Sam Wallace’s PAT tied it at 7.

CHSvsPBHHS01_091710

Brandon Archambeau makes the catch that resulted in the game-winning 89-yard TD play.

Late in the half, Witherspoon broke off a 53-yard run, but Osorio dragged him down from behind, pushing him out of bounds at the 10. The defense then notched a minor victory, holding Heritage to a 22-yard field goal. CHS Coach Ben Aarestad said that stand may have changed the game’s outcome.
“Holding them to a field goal there was huge,” he said. “Ty missed him at the 50, but he didn’t quit on the play, just like we preach. He saved us four points, and maybe the game.”
The offensive play of the game came late in the fourth quarter and Celebration still trailing with the ball on its 11-yard line. On third-and-9, Torres-Bruno scrambled and, inches from crossing the line of scrimmage, lofted a pass down the middle to Archambeau. The senior tipped the ball away from a defender, corralled it in stride, and sped away for the touchdown that gave the Storm its first lead.
“It was literally a dream sequence,” Archambeau said. “I saw the ball and said, ‘This is our chance to win the game and I need to take it.’”
Torres-Bruno, who was 9-for-15 for 224 yards passing, said his thoughts were simple during the play – throw it and pray.
“I felt that was where I had to go with the ball,” the senior signal caller said. “In the air I hoped it was a good throw, and I just prayed, ‘Please catch it Brandon.’ I thank God he did.”
The Panthers got two more possessions, thanks to a Celebration fumble, but Jemiel Lowery batted down a fourth-down pass that removed all doubt.
Lake Wales, 2-0 after a 42-14 win over Lake Gibson last week, is third in the Class 3A state poll and received a first-place vote.
“They’re really good, they’ve got speed all over,” Aarestad said. “They can spread the field in their shotgun set, but they also run dive option stuff.”
He said that mental mistakes can’t happen if the Storm wants to continue the win streak. Celebration was flagged for 60 yards in penalties against Heritage.
“We have to play smart, smarter than we have done in stretches this year at least,” he said. “We can’t give a team like Lake Wales free yards or first downs.”
Celebration hosts district foe Auburndale Oct. 1.