With time running out on the game, Yasir Arnold could be seen running up and down the Newburgh bench trying to get himself back in the game after being forced to leave due to cramps.

He finally got back on the field with a minute to go in the fourth quarter after the Goldbacks had just retaken a 7-point lead.

On his first play, Arnold intercepted Middletown quarterback Dalton Howell to seal the Goldbacks’ 27-20 victory on Friday night over the Middletown Middie Bears.

“It hurt to watch my team,” Arnold said. “My backups are not bad, but you execute better with the starters. I couldn’t execute due to cramps, but I came back in the game and delivered what needed to be delivered.”

That was after the offense delivered.

The Middie Bears had just taken a 20-19 lead on Howell’s 86-yard touchdown pass to Robert Denson, and the Newburgh offense hadn’t scored since the second quarter.

But with 4:20 remaining, the Goldbacks took over on their own 46, and quarterback Amarri Tice and freshman wide receiver Deondre Johnson took charge.

First, on third-and-four, Tice hit Johnson in stride for a 37-yard reception and then Tice tossed a third-down jump ball to the end zone that Johnson came down with for the game-winning touchdown.

“That’s a huge advantage,” Tice said. “We have another wideout (Kendall Scott) that’s 6-4 and he’s pretty fast. All I have to do most of the time is throw it up there and they go get it.”

Johnson, a freshman playing in his second varsity game, has made an immediate impact for the Goldbacks, hauling in two touchdown passes on Friday, and one the week before against Kingston.

He also went up to catch an 8-yard touchdown pass with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter.
“We knew he was a good player and that’s why we brought him up, and I told the rest of the team with him, this isn’t a ‘you had a great season on JV callup,’” Newburgh coach Bill Bianco said. “He’s mastered that level and he can play.”

The Middies intercepted Tice twice in the game, the first on the Goldbacks’ 14 that Chris Washington returned for a touchdown. Then Jason Sandoval Campos’ extra point gave the Middie Bears a 7-6 lead.

The Goldbacks took the lead on Nick Patterson’s eight-yard touchdown run and then they took a 19-7 lead when Tice and Arnold hooked up for a 59-yard touchdown pass. With 4:55 to go in the second quarter.

It was the last time Newburgh scored until the game-winner.

“I think part of that was they controlled the ball more and we were on defense more,” Bianco said. “That definitely helped slow us down. A few of our guys were cramping. They got momentum and some other guys had to step up.”

Campos hit a 24-yard field goal to cut Newburgh’s lead to 19-10 at halftime. Then he hit from 27 yards out to cut the lead to 19-13 with 5:27 left in the third quarter.
The Middie Bears (3-4, 2-4 Class AA) almost tied the game when Howell hit Steven Acosta for a 66-yard touchdown pass. However, the play was called back for holding.

Immediately after, Howell tied the game with his touchdown pass to Denson. Campos’ extra point gave the Middie Bears a 20-19 lead.
“When they scored, we got fired up,” Tice said. “We had to get back to it and get the ball down the field and do what we had to do.”

This game had originally expected to be a battle of the unbeatens and to determine the top seed in the Section 9 Class AA playoffs, but Middletown forfeited 3 league wins (Kingston, Pine Bush, Monroe-Woodbury) for playing an ineligible player.

Newburgh (7-0, 6-0 Class AA) came in as the top seed and are scheduled to face No. 4 Monroe-Woodbury on Saturday. The Crusaders missed a late field goal on Saturday to suffer a 23-20 loss to The Washingtonville Wizards, who grabbed the third seed. Washingtonville’s win eliminated Middletown.

“This is a huge win,” Tice said. “This gives us momentum going into the playoffs. We just have to keep at it and get better.”