Grid Notebook: Yorktown In, Somers Out of Class A Championship Game; No.1A Huskers Ease In, Face No.1B Rye in Title Tilt; Tuskers Denied by Garnets, 21-19
By Ray Gallagher
Examiner Sports Editor
The stage was set for the biggest football game in Northern Westchester history, but the curtain never rose. The theatrics were set to officially begin after No.2A Somers checked in with a semifinal defeat of No.1B host Rye last Saturday, setting up what would have been a Section 1 Class A championship playdate with No.1A Yorktown this coming Saturday night at Mahopac High where mayhem would rule the night.
Yorktown did its part the night before when junior HB Nick Santavicca snapped off four touchdowns and ran for 214 yards on Friday night, leading the undefeated Huskers to a 47-12 win over No.2B Sleepy Hollow in the other Section 1 Class A semifinal.
But Somers (7-2) was denied entrance when its defense could not get off the field over the course of the final five-plus minutes in host Rye’s 21-19 semifinal victory over the suddenly sullen Tuskers, who saw their two-year reign as Section 1 champions crash and burn last Saturday night at Nugent Field where the Garnets (8-1) relied on their franchise QB Andrew Livingston to survive and advance a classic playoff.
The now-abandoned notion of an all-Northern Westchester championship would have been as big as it gets in this neck of the woods, but we’ll never know, leaving Yorktown (9-0), winners of four Section 1 titles in the 1990s and a pair of NYS titles in 1993-94, as the area’s lone representation for our Class A title hopes.
Bring your popcorn and get there early because parking will be tough to come by as local alumni join forces with the current student bodies and their families for the right to gain entrance into the NYS playoffs; something Yorktown hasn’t done since 1998 and Rye has failed to do since 2008 (Class B NYS champs). Rye moved to Class A in 2009 and has come up short ever since.
Yorktown’s outcome was never in doubt vs. Sleepy. Once Santavicca had gained a step on the Headless Horsemen, the whirling dervish was gone, last seen scooting uncontested for portions of his new school record 1,506 yards in a season. Santavicca broke the previous record of 1,382 by former All-NYS FB Pete Cariello, arguably the finest two-way player in Yorktown history, who went on to win a national title at DI-AA UMass before a spinal injury derailed what might have been a shot at the NFL.
“Our lineman were blocking very well,” Santavicca said of Logan Peters, Joey Costella, Richie Campanaro, Steve Veteri and Joey Blume. “They made holes that I could run through and there was also a lot of cut-back alleys, which is what I do best. It’s unbelievable to be mentioned in the same breath as Pete Cariello, it really is, and being a part of history is something I never thought of but we still are trying to make history this Saturday.”
Coach Mike Rescigno’s Huskers will now be playing for their first Section 1 title since Longo – lovable OL/DL Jason Longobardi — and the boys did so in 1998 during a 10-1 NYS semifinal season under then-coach Dan Callahan, who took the reins from two-time NYS champion Coach Ron Sanatavicca, the uncle of the record-setting halfback.
When Santavicca wasn’t scoring or breaking off big gains, senior captain Tim Forbes was bulling in from three yards out for a birthday score that no 18-year-old will ever forget. Senior QB Ryan Baker also got in on the act, racing 75 yards on the first possession of the second half for a 35-0 lead. Baker, who rushed for 111 yards on eight totes, also fired a TD pass to TE James Fennessy.
Yorktown’s secondary — Shivam Gupta, Scott Weaver, Nick Golio and sophomore Dom Cioffi – were draped on Sleepy wideouts, preventing lefty slinger Joey Good from being any good. Along with a front four as stout as any in Section 1, Husker LB’s Mike Dedvukaj, Forbes and Ryan Tim Brandt were crippling the Sleepy ground game.
Rye, which defeated Yorktown, 36-20, in the 2013 semis, will have its hands full with Yorktown, but the Husker secondary will be placed on red alert this week as its prepares to deal with Livingston, who is 161 yards shy of the Section 1 record for career passing yards (Rob Higle, Briarcliff, and 5,469).
It was Livingston who single-handedly dashed the hopes of Lakeland, Panas and now Somers this season, as the prototypical 6’2” 200-pound signal caller made clutch play after clutch play when his team needed them most, including the 4th-down conversion that clinched the win over Somers. Despite being sacked five times, Livingston inflicted damage by finding Tim DeGraw (TD pass) and Drew Abate for chain-moving passes before crossing the goal line for the game-winning score just before the third quarter ended. Truth be told, though, Somers should have put up more points on a Garnet defense that struggled all season.
“Livingston is a great player, one of the bests I’ve played against and he’s a class act,” said Fazzinga, “but I think defensively we actually played pretty well, it was our offense that had trouble getting going.”
The Tuskers made several uncharacteristic mistakes that proved costly, including a special team’s gaffe that cost them in more ways than one. After mishandling a snap on their second score, the Tuskers botched one PAT attempt and were forced to go for two on a potential game-tying attempt in the fourth quarter after FB Timmy Fazzinga bulled in from two yards out with 8:42 left for his second TD of the day. WR Tyler DeVito also scored for Somers, hauling in a 65-yard touchdown pass from QB Matt Pontbriand with 5:30 left in the third.
“We gave it everything we had every day, so I have no regrets which I’m happy about,” said Fazzinga, a captain. “It was an absolute honor to play for Somers.”
Fazzinga’s not the first guy to say that since Coach Tony DeMatteo came on board…
Lakeland QB Anthony Capozzi set the school’s single-season touchdown record with two scores to beat Pearl River, giving him 18 for the year… In a win over Harrison, Brewster’s TE/LB Matt Gargano had 101 yards receiving, 16 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery…
Section 1 Championships Saturday, November 8 at Mahopac High School: Class AA No. 1 John Jay-EF vs. No. 2 Arlington, noon; Class D No. 1 Tuckahoe vs. No. 2 Haldane, 3:30 p.m.; Class A No. 1 Yorktown vs. No. 1 Rye, 7 p.m.
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.
