(INTRODUCTION: In its two prior games in 1987, Rochester posted back-to-back shutouts vs. Canisius (19-0) and Hobart (17-0). Now, the 5-0 Yellowjackets (ranked #11) headed to Long Island for a game against 4th-ranked Hofstra, also 5-0. Hofstra was riding high after beating #2 Wagner College the week before at home. A crowd of nearly 7,000 turned out on Homecoming anticipating another Dutchmen win over a strong foe. Ah, but this is why they play the game – as Gary Ciarleglio recounts the tussle…)
Hofstra was a perennial Division III power and was ranked in the top 10 ten in the final Division III poll for four consecutive years. They had a regular season record of 32-8 in that span. They had beaten us three consecutive years from 1984-'86. They were a big physical team with excellent skilled players. We had a terrific game the year before as we fought extremely hard and were trailing 19-13 after three quarters. They asserted their will on us in the 4
th quarter and scored 18 unanswered points to pull away to a convincing win 37-13.
On Friday night in the hotel, we did not watch film of our opponent or a team movie. It's just the team, support staff and coaches in a meeting room, chairs lined up waiting for a pregame speech. What we did have was great bulletin board material from their Head Coach, Mickey Kwiatkowski. Frank Bilovsky, the writer from the
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, interviewed Coach Kwiatkowski on Monday October 12. "We are great," the coach boomed, "I feel they're great. I know we are great! We are bigger and faster than we have been, so big and so fast it scares me." After Hofstra's victory over Wagner the week before (35-28), it makes sense the coach would be optimistic.
We would face a little adversity leading into the game as John Danieu, our cornerback and one of only two seniors starting on defense, would arrive late to the game the next day as he was sitting for the LSAT on the Hofstra campus in the morning. John is currently an attorney with Roach, Brown, McCarthy & Gruber. That is the essence of Division III football, John was a three-year starter, a leader and great player. He totaled nine interceptions in his career and 3 in one game in an upset of St. Lawrence in 1985. Becoming a lawyer was his priority and he was allowed to be late without repercussions.
Coach Tellier gave us a great talk about doing our jobs, playing together and having the confidence not only to play well, but to beat them. It was our time. Offensively, Hofstra employed a balanced Wing T offense and Stunt 4-4 Defense. They were led by QB Ken Bonkowski, a dual threat and the best quarterback we would face all year. Defensively, tape showed that they really gave Wagner trouble with stunting and blitzing between their inside linebacker and tackles, outside linebackers and ends well as their end - tackle stunts.
Our right guard Joe Ferrauilo recalled "… (Assistant) Coach (Rich) Parrinello drilled us on their top three or four stunts all week, we employed our zone scheme to pick it up and they proceeded to do exactly to us what they did to Wagner the week before." Our offensive line consisting of starters LT - John McCall, LG - Jeff Jordan, C - John Deinhart, RG - Joe Ferrauilo and RT Randy Bourdeau were able to control the line of scrimmage on a week to week basis. LG Mike Nosbisch along with TE John McKenna also played a huge role in the success of our improved running game. This was a veteran group that were both smart and tough.
What happened next in this clash of undefeated teams was astonishing. The offensive line proceeded to absolutely dominate one of the best teams in country. It was ultimately a seesaw battle with UR taking a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard plunge by Dan Gioia with 9:16 remaining in the 1
st quarter. Hofstra tied it at 2:19 of the 1
st with a 5-yard Bonkowski TD pass to James Moore.
Bourdeau & Ferraulio on the O-Line
One minute later, Savage raced untouched through the middle of the Hofstra defense on a 53-yard TD run giving Rochester a 14-7 lead. Sixty-nine seconds later, Bonkowski found WR Ed Palermo from 29-yards out to knot the score at 14-14. UR ended the first have onslaught with a 5-yard TD run by Savage giving the Yellowjackets the lead 21-14 heading into halftime. These were two explosive football teams putting on a show. Defensively, we were struggling with their speed and athleticism at the point of attack.
After the break, Bonkowski showed off his speed by scampering untouched on a 22-yard naked bootleg to tie the score for the third time (21-21 with 6:32 remaining in the 3
rd quarter). Savage scored his third touchdown of the day with 2-yard TD run giving UR the lead once again 28-21 as the third period ended. The UR defense which had played so well leading into this contest struggled all day to contain the Hofstra offense. Bonkowski threw his third touchdown pass of the day by hitting Joe Donadio on a short 4-yard pass and it was tied, 28-28, with 5:20 left.
With just over two minutes remaining to play and UR backed up in its own end, a third down Dave Boyce pass was intercepted and returned 6 yards to the 16-yard line setting up the potential game winning FG. Hofstra wasn't going to gamble and used their first running play into the middle of the field which we stopped cold. UR called time out to preserve the clock. What happen next will go down as one of the clutch plays in UR history. Attempting to set up the game winning FG, Coach Kwiatkowski called a halfback counter. Bonkowski reverse pivots handing the ball to Mike Codella. Having played in the Wing T offense and knowing it well, I got a great read on the play as Codella proceeded to hit the center of the line in the area of the B gap. I fought off the block attempt of the offensive tackle and met Codella as he got to the hole. The ball popped into the air and was fumbled into the second level of the defense. Dominic Strada, filing quickly in the hole, alertly recovered the fumble giving UR life with 1:26 to play.
Coach Kwiatkowski solemnly analyzed it in the
Democrat & Chronicle "That was a great play. He fought his way through the block and still had enough to stick our runner hard and cause the fumble."
UR got into its two-minute offense and took over on the 14-yard line. This is a situation that Coach Tellier worked tirelessly at for three and a half years. It was a 1 vs. 1 or best on best live drill that we did each week in practice. Boyce's leadership and execution under pressure was outstanding. Two Savage runs totaling 26 yards, a 24-yard completion to Tom Sheehan, and sandwiched in between a terrific 16-yard reception by TE McKenna who could barely raise his arm due to his harnessed dislocated shoulder moved the ball to the Hofstra 15-yard line. Coach Tellier called time, then sent the FG team onto the field. Andy Milne, our transfer kicker from Colgate was building an outstanding career at the UR that would eventually see him set every kicking record at the University and election into the Rochester Athletic Hall of Fame. He had won the Eddie Meath All-Star game at Fauver with a kick three years prior. WR Mark Kreydt held for Andy for two years and they were a great team. The snap-hold mechanics were perfect, Milne split the uprights with a beautiful high arching parabola and UR took the lead 31-28 with :08 seconds remaining. A subsequent squib kick was downed with a few seconds to go and desperation Hail Mary from Bonkowski fell harmlessly to the turf nowhere near our end zone.
On Monday, Rochester was ranked #1 in the ECAC poll and rose to #4 nationally. Savage earned ECAC Player of the Week honors (27 Carries for 196 yards 3 TD's) Savage and Gioia (30 Carries 139 yards 1 TD) led a rushing attack that amassed 342 yards on the day. Boyce was 7-17-1 for 130 yards but averaged 18.6 yards per completion. We were 6-0 heading into our own Homecoming.
(ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gary Ciarleglio '89 earned multiple All-America honors as a linebacker for the Yellowjackets (1985-88). He is Rochester's career leader in total tackles, primary tackles, and assisted tackles. He held multiple football coaching roles at Columbia University through 2002. He was inducted into the Rochester Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.)
