The ebb and flow of this thriller had the fans tied up in knots from start to finish. Summit took the opening kickoff and rolled 83 yards to a touchdown in six plays with Chris Zanelli covering 71 of the 83 yards in four plays, including the final 2 yards. Paulo Umana kick the extra point and it looked like things were going to be easy. So Summit kicked off and Roselle returned the ball almost to mid-field. On the Ram’s first play they scored on a beautiful 52 yard pass play. Score tied! Ok, maybe that was a fluke. After a Summit drive stalled on the Ram’s 30. Summit forced a 3 and out at the Ram’s 15. But inexplicably the punter threw an incomplete pass and Summit was handed the ball at the 15 yard line. One play later Zanelli was in the end zone. The extra point was wide, Summit was back on top 13-7.

Summit’s Umana kicked it deep to the Ram’s 5. The Ram’s returner did a little stutter step and then turned on the afterburner and raced 95 yards for a touchdown. With only 5 plays Roselle had produced two TDs .and a 14-13 lead. That was the way it would be for the rest of the game. Everytime Summit thought they had gotten the game back under control, the Rams bounced back.

Summit’s next drive began when Zanelli returned the kickoff 38 yards to mid field. Ten plays later Peter Mckinlay scored, Zanelli ran in a 2-point conversion and Summit was back on top 21-14. On Summit’s next possession Summit went 77 yards in nine running plays with Zanelli and McKinlay doing most of the rushing. Hightlights were a 30 yard run by Zanelli and a 10 yard run to the to the endzone by McKinlay. Zanelli added a 2 point conversion and the score was 29-14 with 4:45 left in the half. Surely now Summit was in charge. But it was not to be. Roselle went 59 yards, aided by 45 yards of penalties called on the Hilltoppers, scoring with 3 seconds left in the half. It was back to a one TD lead, 29-21.

Summit caught a big break at the start of the 2nd half when Roselle turned the ball over on a fumble at the Ram’s 13 yard line. Zanelli moved it to the one and scored on the next play. The conversion failed but the Hilltoppers were ahead 35-21. At last some breathing room. Summit was forced to punt after the next series and on the first play the ram’s QB connected on a 63 yard pass play, 35-27. Summit went 3 and out, but the punt gave Roselle good field position at Summit’s 25. Five plays later the score was 35-33 and Roselle was going for a 2-pointer to tie the score. Vincent Bonomo had other ideas and sacked the QT to preserve a the Summit 2 point lead.

Summit would score again with 3 minutes left, but missed the extra point so it was still a one TD game. The Summit defense rose to the occasion and got the ball back on downs with 45 seconds left. What a cliff hanger.