Norwood Edges Milton 19-12 with Last-Second Touchdown Thriller—October 15, 1956

With a mere 20 seconds remaining on the clock and the scoreboard deadlocked at 12-12, Milton held possession deep in its own territory. Opting to chase a victory rather than settle for a tie, Milton elected to throw—a fourth-down gamble that backfired dramatically and propelled Norwood to a thrilling 19-12 triumph on Saturday.

“I signalled that they should try for a score instead of kicking. We wanted to go for a win instead of playing for the tie,” Milton Coach George Ramacorti explained afterward.

The gamble failed when Milton’s final pass fell incomplete, allowing Norwood to take over on downs with just seconds left. Capitalizing immediately, Norwood quarterback Ed Feeney dialed up two consecutive completions: first hitting End Pete Smith for 19 yards down to the Milton 11-yard line, and then—with Milton’s defense bracing for a deep heave—flipping a short toss to End Pete Glebus in the end zone with a scant seven seconds remaining to seal the victory.

A Tale of Two Halves and Aerial Fireworks

The dramatic finish capped a seesaw battle that extended Milton’s losing streak to six games, dating back to the end of the previous season.

Milton had commanded a 12-6 lead as late as the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter, driven entirely by a potent first-half connection between quarterback Dave Richards and End Johnny Celli, which set up two rushing touchdowns by Dick McDonnell:

• First Touchdown: Celli hauled in a 24-yard pass on his own 7-yard line, setting up McDonnell for a 5-yard reverse spin score in the second period.
• Second Touchdown: After Celli recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, he made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch of a 32-yard Richards pass at the Norwood 6-yard line, allowing McDonnell to punch it in two plays later.

Norwood countered through the air behind Feeney, who tossed three touchdown strikes on the afternoon. Feeney connected with End Joe Carchedi in the first period, and struck again with Carchedi on a 37-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter—a play preceded by a brilliant 27-yard reverse run by co-captain Bill Wenstrom—to knot the score at 12-12 before the final-minute heroics.

Defensively, Milton co-captain Walter Whalen anchored the line against Norwood’s running attack, holding the Mustangs to 135 yards on the ground. However, Milton’s secondary ultimately proved unable to contain Feeney’s late-game passing clinic.

Game Statistics Snapshot

Metric	Norwood (N)	Milton (M)
First Downs	10	12
Yards Gained Rushing	135	140
Yards Lost Rushing	9	61
Yards Gained Passing	109	94
Passes Attempted	9	13
Passes Completed	4	6
Passes Intercepted By	0	1
Number of Punts	3	4
Punting Average	35	33
Fumbles	4	3
Opp. Fumbles Recovered	2	1
Yards Penalized	20	40

Scoring Summary by Quarter:

• Norwood: 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 — 19
• Milton: 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 — 12
• Scoring Plays: Touchdowns by Joe Carchedi (N) 2, Dick McDonnell (M) 2, Pete Glebus (N). Point after touchdown by Grinivic (N) kick.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger