Denmark’s monster game leads Roman Catholic to stunning win over La Salle
SPRINGFIELD >> All afternoon on Saturday, Tyseer Denmark kept looking at his team’s sideline.
The Roman Catholic standout sophomore wasn’t lost or confused on the field, he just wanted to keep reminding himself who he was playing for in the Cahillites’ biggest game of the season. On the other side of the field was a La Salle team that had yet to allow more than three touchdowns in a game, was coming off a huge win of its own a week earlier and looking like one of the top teams in the entire state.
So Denmark kept looking at his own sideline, at his teammates watching and waiting to see what he would do.
Denmark’s four touchdowns and a critical defensive tackle powered Roman as the Cahillites stunned the previously unbeaten Explorers 27-20 at Springfield Twp High School.
“It was all for these guys,” Denmark said. “Nobody expected us to beat (La Salle), literally nobody at all. We saw it all week, one poll had 97 percent La Salle, three percent Roman. They pushed me harder than ever, all week in practice they were on me like ‘you can’t do this, I don’t like you walking,’ in the weight room ‘you can’t just sit there, we’re not like that,’ so when I get out here, it’s all because they pushed me.
“This is all them and I give all this back to them.”
Per the archives of TedSilary.com, Saturday’s win was Roman’s first victory over the Explorers since 2007.
The sophomore receiver was not a one-man show on Saturday, but the Explorers simply had no answer for him either. Denmark totaled 233 yards on the day, with seven receptions for 203 yards and a score, plus nine rushes for 30 yards and three more scores. He also made one of the two biggest defensive plays of the game, stuffing a runner on 4th-and-goal in the fourth quarter that led to the go-ahead scoring drive.
While he expected big things of himself, Denmark put everyone else on notice with his first grab of the day. On Roman’s first drive, Denmark turned back and made a sensational leaping one-handed grab over a defender for a 27-yard gain.
He added a 23-yard catch a few plays later then powered in on the ground from three yards out to give Roman a 7-0 lead but it was that first catch that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
“It gives me so much more confidence,” Denmark said. “I saw what type of releases I needed to beat the coverage in front of me. That first play, my quarterback threw a great ball and later, on my touchdown, the quarterback threw a great ball. It goes back to these guys, they put me in position to win the game, so I’m going to go win the game for them.”
Roman quarterback John Ingram did throw a good ball on Saturday, keeping it away from the Explorers and giving his teammate a chance to use his ability to go up, get it and trust his hands to secure the catch.
A week after ending a six-year losing streak to St. Joe’s Prep in front of 10,000 fans at Franklin Field, the Explorers couldn’t seem to get out of their own way against Roman. Their defense couldn’t contain Denmark and costly penalties, including two on the Cahillities’ final drive, allowed Roman’s offense to stay on the field and run down more clock.
“I know they call this a ‘trap game’ and I feel like we really fell for that trap,” La Salle defensive tackle Darold Dengohe said. “We came off a week where we had an amazing game and slowed down. We need to learn from this and play every game like it’s our last and from now on, we have to come out and dominate.”
A bad snap on a punt gifted La Salle a short field and the Explorers took advantage to tie the game 7-7 on Ryan Moore’s two-yard run early in the second quarter. On the previous drive, the Explorers had lined up to try a 22-yard field goal but after a Roman flag, opted to go for it on fourth-and-goal. La Salle’s gadget play, which saw running back Sam Brown throw a pass to quarterback Alan Paturzo, was broken up by Roman’s Trey Woodley in the end zone.
Roman responded, thanks in large part to another remarkable play by Denmark. Ingram went deep, and the wideout pulled the ball down in stride over his shoulder, then shook and spun several defenders before stepping out of bounds for a 57-yard pickup and scored two plays later on a five-yard run with 1:38 left in the half.
“When I go out there and play my game, I feel like there’s nobody that can play against me,” Denmark said. “I feel like its 100 of me out there trying to stop me and I’m out there getting better by going against me. It’s me vs me wherever I go. It didn’t bother me they were the No. 1 team in the PCL.”
La Salle put together a strong response, with Patuzo leading them down the field after taking a 12-yard loss on a sack to start the drive. The senior quarterback rebounded, hitting five different receivers and managing the clock as he hit Ryan Sorge on a 24-yard score as time expired to knot things up 14-14 at the break.
The strong start to the half, plus a defensive stop on Roman’s first series of the second half seemed to turn things around for the Explorers. La Salle took its first lead when Brown, who rushed for 165 yards on 20 carries, broke off a 41-yard touchdown to go ahead 20-14 after a blocked extra point.
It wasn’t meant to last however.
“We have to stop the penalties,” La Salle coach John Steinmetz said. “Man alive, it seemed like every time we got a stop, we had a 15-yard penalty for a facemask, personal foul or something else stupid. We have to clean it up, it’s not something new, it’s been a problem for weeks but when you win a couple games, it masks it.”
After holding Denmark in check for most of the third, the receiver grabbed an 11-yard pickup on the next drive, then went even bigger on the next play. Ingram put another one up and Denmark went and got it, high-pointing the ball over two defenders, who then collided and left the Roman wideout to run free for a 65-yard touchdown.
While the Explorers’ run defense, led by Dengohe and Kieran Campbell up front and linebackers Abdul Carter and Sean McFadden at linebacker was solid, it’s not a unit that passes blame or fault when the opponent scores on them.
“It’s all of our fault,” Dengohe said. “If they have a big play, it’s not on one person or part of the defense, it’s on all of us. We hold ourselves accountable for all of this, so I believe we’ll work on it, learn from it and get better from it.
“We have to have a short-term memory, this happened, we need to accept that and learn from it. We need to get back the energy we had and start playing even better than we had been.”
La Salle faced a crucial decision with about 8:30 to play. Facing a fourth-and-2 at the Roman 40 and having been stopped on third down, the Explorers opted to go for it.
Denmark was there to make another play, stuffing Moore at the line for no gain and getting his guys the ball back.
“The first time, I cheated it and they went to Sam (Brown), I got inside, he went outside and got a first down,” Denmark said. “The next play, when they went Wildcat, Ronnell (Davis) sealed the outside, which closes the gap and forces him inside so I stuffed him and stood him up.”
Roman, behind the running of Mao Howell, moved down the field and got help from a pair of 15-yard flags on La Salle with the second giving the visitors a first-and-goal at the six-yard line. Another penalty put the ball on the one and after one try was stopped, Denmark wasn’t going be denied again and pushed through the line to score the go-ahead touchdown.
The Cahillities still needed one more stop and got it when 6-foot-5 defensive end Jamieal Lyons read a screen and jumped into the air, snaring the interception to seal the victory.
“We made the bigger plays and adjustments, I feel as though we had the better guys and we made the bigger plays in this game,” Denmark said. “I don’t feel like this was my best game. I missed two blocks that could have gone for a touchdown. I missed a tackle, a wide-open tackle, I still feel like I didn’t play to my best ability. That’s how I have to be, I was raised that way by my dad, my uncle, my mom and my aunt, I’m always looking to get better.”
Roman Catholic 27, La Salle 20
ROMAN CATHOLIC 7 7 6 7 – 27
LA SALLE 0 14 6 0 – 20
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
RC Tyseer Denmark 3 run (Ndori Jeack kick) 5:10
2nd Quarter
L Ryan Moore 2 run (Santi Sturla kick) 5:06
RC Tyseer Denmark 5 run (Jeack kick) 1:38
L Alan Paturzo 24 pass to Ryan Sorge (Sturla kick) 0.0
3rd Quarter
L Sam Brown 41 run (kick blocked) 3:33
RC John Ingram 65 pass to Tyseer Denmark (kick miss) 1:37
4th Quarter
RC Denmark 1 run (Jeack kick) 1:30
Team Stats
RC L
First Downs 14 15
Rushing 38-81 31-178
Passing 11-17-1-0 11-20-1-1
Passing Yards 236 101
Total yards 317 278
Penalties-Yards 6-67 6-27
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Individual Stats
Rushing: RC – Mao Howell 24-71, Tyseer Denmark 9-30, Jason Patterson 1-(-18), Brandon Mack 2-5, John Ingram 2-(-14); L – Sam Brown 20-165, Alan Paturzo 3-8, Ryan Moore 6-(-1), EJ Wentz 1-1, Stevie Davis 1-1
Passing: RC – Ingram 11-17-1-0-236; L – Paturzo 11-19-1-0-101, Brown 0-1-0-0-0
Receiving: RC – Denmark 7-203, Trey Woodley 2-15, Howell 2-18; L – Ryan Sorge 3-41, Nole Henry 3-31, Wentz 3-15, Brown 1-18, Moore 1-(-4)
Interceptions: RC – Jamieal Lyons
