FROM BEDROCK SPORTS HAWAII, OCTOBER, 2022
The dice of great promise rolled and fell right off the table.
That’s how it was for Mr. Patrick Caruso on Oct. 8, 2022.
In order to get the full impact of what happened, let’s put our Hollywood movie glasses on for a moment, a little bit of fictional scene-setting based on fact to set up the tale.
Picture Caruso, a Marlboro Shamrocks place-kicker, walking off hte field, head held high with the ball cradled in his arm. The noise of the crowds in the background begin to fade as he makes his way toward the exit gate under the bright stadium lights.
There is a technicolor whirl and blur as the 60-year-old Caruso transforms on the screen into the the Marlboro Junior High Trojans version of himself from 50 years prior. A blink of an eye later, the image turns into the Assabet Valley Regional Vocational High School (Class of 1980) Caruso, and then in succcession to the young Shamrocks kicker in the ’80s, and back again to the present-day man who just played in yet another championship football game with and against kids one-third his age.
That longevity, by the way, has earned him legendary status in Marlboro, a city of 40,000 about 30 miles west of Boston.
Ready for the storybook ending where Caruso meets the darkness of the exit and walks out the door a winner? Think again.
A winning career for sure, but not on this night in a game that could possibly be his last of a football life that began circa 1974.
The Shamrocks, who had national championship seasons in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002 without Caruso on the roster and in 2020 and 2022 with him, lost in the East Coast Football League title game, 26-23 in overtime, to the Southern New England Admirals.
Trailing 20-0, Marlboro fought back to tie it 20-all and Caruso came on to the field to attempt what could have been the winning extra point with 27 seconds remaining.
Instead, he was pulled for the team’s other kicker, Max Pedinoff, who wound up missing the attempt.
Caruso was quick to say that it this missed opportunity was not an instance where coach Chris Chambers didn’t trust him.
But, man, that is some mean wind that blew those aforementioned dice away.
Here’s how Pat explained it: “When we scored, we got an excessive celebration penalty. Coach thought it was a 15-yard penalty so he sent Max (the longer distance place-kicker) in. By the time he realized it was only marked off 5 yards, things got confusing so he just kept him in. I had no problem with it. Just wanted to win. Max was not really ready because of the confusion. But Max did hit a 43-yard field goal to go ahead in OT. It was a total team loss. Must admit coming back from down 20 to lose has been the toughest loss I’ve had.”
That’s “good-sport” Pat for you.
But not everyone was as carefree about what happened.
Caruso’s girlfriend, Deb Harper, wrote on Facebook: “Last night, this guy (Pat) took a hit … to the heart. Patrick was on the field, preparing for the final kick of his career . The crowd was cheering, ‘We love you Caruso!’ I was holding my breath. This was the point that would bring the team to its third national championship (in . Then the coach pulls him. The crowd paused. You can hear several fans yelling, ‘What the (expletive) are they doing?’ The crowd went silent as they watched the ball fade to the left and the refs giving the signal of a failed point. My body felt numb, and my heart broke for Patrick. We all knew that if he had kicked that ball, it would have sailed through the uprights and it would have been the kick of his lifetime. He was robbed of that experience. And he took it like the sportsman that he is. He sees the team and doesn’t focus on just himself. He deserved so much more.”