UPDATED: Nov. 15, 9:08 p.m.

Keith Emery wanted to stop at the cemetery to pay respect to his father, Donald, who died a week before Western New England University’s first game this season. But he just couldn’t do it before the biggest game of his coaching career.

‘The last time I visited my dad before a game, we lost,’ said Emery, the head coach of Division III Western New England. ‘I couldn’t risk it.’ 

Emery and the Golden Bears had never earned an NCAA playoff berth. After serving as a part-time head coach, he took over one of the worst teams in Division III football full-time in 2005. WNEU finally had a chance to win the New England Football Conference championship for the first time in school history last Saturday when it took on Framingham State.

Coaching without his father in the stands all season was tough for Emery. Donald Emery sat in the bleachers for every game and nearly every practice since his son became WNEU’s first full-time head coach.

So when the Golden Bears rallied for a miracle 20-13 win over Framingham State in the NEFC championship game last weekend, Emery said his father must have been out on the field with the players he loved to watch.

For 56 minutes, Emery said the Golden Bears looked inept. Quarterback Bryce Brown battled strong winds throughout the game and was picked off on two straight fourth-quarter drives. A larger and more physical Framingham State defensive line shut down WNEU’s powerful running game, too, as the Rams built a commanding 13-0 lead.

But with 3:47 remaining in the game, the head coach said divine intervention, or something like it, kicked in. 

Emery called a play that sent four wide receivers straight down the field, and Brown hit junior Brendon Thompson with an arching pass over the middle of the field for a 65-yard touchdown, cutting Framingham State’s lead to six.

‘It was something I saw on tape all week,’ Brown said. ‘The strong safety was slow to rotate over to help with coverage, and I put enough air under it. It was a perfect catch.’

With the gusting wind at their backs and only one timeout remaining, Emery decided he couldn’t risk giving the ball back to Framingham. He needed get the ball back to Brown and his offense.

Freshman kicker Nick Fox-Edele booted a perfectly placed onside kick, junior Phil Tsopanides recovered and the Golden Bears had the ball with a chance to win what looked like a lost game.

‘Something was going on down there,’ Western New England Athletic Director Mike Theulen said. ‘To score so fast — and God willing — recover that critical onsides kick. It was miraculous.’

After a season of mourning, the Golden Bears rallied for their coach one more time in 2011.

The team, Brown said, had become part of the Emery family. Brown, along with fellow team captains J.J. Jachym, Matt Danko and Scott Wojciechowski, made sure their entire team went to Donald’s wake and funeral.

When the team faced Norwich (Mass.) University the following Saturday, Emery admitted his game preparation was a little off. And he also wasn’t prepared for Brown’s last pregame tribute: the Golden Bears would wear helmet decals that read ‘DE’ to honor Donald Emery.

‘I was speechless,’ Emery said. ‘You can’t ask for better players, and we rallied around that.’

The comeback last Saturday against Framingham continued on the team’s 10-play drive after the onside kick.

When the Golden Bears faced a fourth-and-nine at the Framingham State 11-yard line, Brown scrambled for 10 yards and a first down. On the next play, and with 26 seconds left in regulation, Brown took a quarterback sneak up to tie the game 13-13 from one yard out. 

Brown, who was injured during a critical game last season, said that late score was important to him. The quarterback had to watch on the sidelines as the Golden Bears lost a game that could’ve clinched them a spot in the 2010 NEFC championship game.

Following Brown’s touchdown, Nick Fox-Edele had to make the point after attempt for the lead.

But the kicker who had been spot-on with his onside kick pushed the game-winning PAT wide left, and the game went to overtime.

Framingham elected to play defense in the extra period, and in four plays, Brown scored his second touchdown on a run from 12 yards out. This time, Fox-Edele nailed the extra point to put WNEU up seven.

‘If it was possible to exhale, we exhaled a little after that,’ Theulen said. ‘Our defense was playing lights out all game.’

That lights-out defense, led by defensive tackle Mark Devlin, clamped down the Framingham offense four times on their overtime possession. On fourth down, a pass by Framingham State quarterback Dino Mancinelli hit the turf.

And Western New England won its first championship, 20-13.

Theulen, who grew close to Donald Emery, said that somewhere he was cheering WNEU’s crazy, NCAA-clinching comeback.

‘If you believe in magic and all that, it’s been a storybook year for Western New England,’ Theulen said. ‘I can tell you with all conviction that losing him at the beginning of this season pulled this team together.’

For Emery, winning the NEFC this season — his first without his father in the stands — meant a little more. The support he received from his team was overwhelming.

‘This university and this team had my back during a rough time,’ Emery said. ‘It’s meant the world to me to coach here, these kids, this team, everything.’

nctoney@syr.edu

Published on November 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Nick: nctoney@syr.edu | @nicktoneytweets