Fast Start Propels White Plains’ Tigers Past Ossining for a 42-0 Win
By Rob DiAntonio
Ossining went for an onside kick and recovered to start the game, but from that point forward an unfazed White Plains football squad was in complete control.
The Tigers cruised to a 42-0 win over host Ossining last Friday night to improve to 5-1.
“Even though they recovered the onside kick, we kind of felt that once our defense went out there and stopped them, that all the momentum would come right back,” White Plains coach Mike Lindberg said. “If [Ossining] would have scored on that first drive, then maybe it would have been a little different. But we were able to hold them and there was no panic.”
White Plains’ offense scored on two of their first three plays. Ben Finkel hit Josiah Harris on a swing pass for a 50-yard touchdown to open the scoring. The senior quarterback then threw a dart over the middle to Caleb Gillen on a 45-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 with 6:22 left in the first quarter.
“We script our first couple of plays, so the kids all know exactly what to expect,” Lindberg said. “We do a pretty good job preparing for teams and we kind of know how they’re going to line up. Our kids know exactly what to expect and what they’re going to get, so it puts them in a good situation. They have a lot of confidence that these plays are going to work.”
On fourth down, Harris scored on a 3-yard sweep to extend the lead to 21-0 with 7:36 left in the second quarter.
Christian Young, who had six carries for 100 yards, closed out the first half scoring with a rushing touchdown to send White Plains into the break leading 28-0.
Finkel was 5 of 11 on pass attempts for 156 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and had a rushing touchdown. Harris had three catches for 73 yards. Brandon Artis added one rushing touchdown for the Tigers.
White Plains held Ossining to just 137 total yards.
“We were getting a lot of hats to the ball,” Lindberg said. “We’re so athletic that we can just get a lot of kids around the ball. We’ve become a much better tackling team.”
White Plains closes out the regular season against Port Chester on Friday, Oct. 17. The game will be at SUNY Purchase at 7 p.m.
“It’s important to win this game because if we do we’ll win the league championship,” Lindberg noted. “That’s the goal right now.”
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