Alemany Drives Into Postseason

John Elway had The Drive against the Cleveland Browns. Doug Williams had The Quarter in the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos. Friday night at St. John Bosco High, Joey Rosselli and Alemany had The March .

Rosselli, the Southern Section’s leading passer among Valley-area quarterbacks, marched his team 80 yards to the winning touchdown in the final five minutes to give Alemany a 22-21 Del Rey League victory.

Alemany (6-4 overall, 3-1 in league play) clinched second place in the league and a playoff berth.

St. John Bosco (4-6, 1-3) led, 21-6, at the half, but was held scoreless in the second half.

Trailing, 21-14, the Indians took over at their 20. Alemany moved to the St. John Bosco 28 with a drive in which it converted a fourth-and-one situation on Terry Barnum’s four-yard run.

Three plays later, Rosselli completed a 16-yard pass to Billy Markowitz that moved the ball to the Braves’ eight. Barnum then carried seven yards to the one and Rosselli dived in with 1:02 remaining.

The Indians, however, still trailed, 21-20, and Scott Goldsmith’s point-after kick failed wide right. The Braves were offside, however, and the Indians got a second chance from the one.

This time, the Indians went for two, and Barnum ran it up the middle for a 22-21 lead.

St. John Bosco nearly pulled out a win. After a short kick, the Braves took over at the 50 and backup quarterback Gary Manley completed a 39-yard pass to tight end Bryce Christiansen to put the ball at the 11 with 29 seconds left.

A delay-of-game penalty moved the ball to the 16, where Nomar Garciaparra’s 33-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Brian Brison.

Rosselli was 21 of 38 for 282 yards.

“We knew we were going to come back,” said Rosselli. “I told the coach, ‘Hey, let’s run the quarterback sneak.’ The next thing you know, I was over the line and I saw two arms up in the air.”