Bobcats’ Upset Bid Falls a Bit Short at Brewster
Brewster’s Matt Gargano scored on a 59-yard pass play from Liam DaRos late in the third quarter and the Bears’ defense stopped two consecutive running plays inches shy of a first down with five minutes remaining Friday to turn back an upset bid by visiting Byram Hills and emerge with a 12-6 victory on Senior Night.
The Bobcats, now 3-3 this season, found themselves trailing undefeated Brewster 6-0 when Brian McNeill scored from a yard out with just under three minutes remaining in the opening quarter. But Brewster’s advantage disappeared midway through the third quarter when the Bobcats, who were forced to make do without primary running backs Connor Morley and Brandon Rosen, recovered a fumble at the Bears’ 20-yard line and scored four plays later.
Facing a fourth-and-two at the Brewster 12, the Bobcats turned to some razzle-dazzle with Ian Rawn eventually carrying the football around the left end and along the sideline, slipping past several Bears into the end zone to tie the contest at 6-6. The PAT attempt went high into the air, but landed well short of the uprights and the Bobcats couldn’t grab the lead.
Brewster, which had escaped with a one-point victory over Eastchester in its previous game, nearly turned the ball over on the ensuing kickoff, but just three minutes later completed a five-play, 71-yard drive with the DaRos pass that Gargano caught along the left sideline and then outraced everyone to the goal line. The point-after kick was blocked, but the Bears had the lead for good.
The third quarter ended with Rawn running five yards to midfield to give Byram Hills a first down. But the drive stalled at the Bears’ 43 thanks to a penalty and then an awkward handoff to running back Skyler Simon that led to a five-yard loss. Still, the Bobcats quickly got the ball back again when the defense forced Brewster into a three-and-out.
Rawn returned the Bears’ punt 20 yards to the Brewster 33-yard line with 5:08 left on the clock. Two running plays left Byram facing a third-and-inches inside the 24. The Brewster defense then stopped Simon just short of the first down and, on fourth down, rose to the occasion once again by thwarting quarterback Matt DiCristofaro on a sneak a couple of inches shy.
There were only three and a half minutes remaining as the Bears took possession. When DaRos managed to pick up a first down with a second effort on third-and-one, the Bobcat upset bid was all but finished. Fernando Solis ran for another first down with just under a minute to go and the Bobcats, out of timeouts, could do nothing to stop the clock.
Afterwards, Bobcats coach John Naughton, not surprisingly, gave his entire football team an A for effort, saying, “I thought my kids played great.”
Next up for the Bobcats will be a meeting with Lincoln on Saturday during which, presumably, first downs will be a lot easier to come by for Byram and there won’t be a need for any big stops by the defense late in the game.
-Andy Jacobs
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
Read more of Andy’s full bio here.
Read Andy’s archived work here.
