Grid Notebook: Yorktown, Somers A Win Away from Collision Course; Huskers to Face Sleepy Hollow on Halloween; Tuskers Get Rye Saturday with Title Berths on Line
By Ray Gallagher
Examiner Sports Editor
CLASS A
And now, after seven weeks of regular-season action, and a fairly predictable quarterfinal round of playoff rehearsal this past weekend, Week 9 finds us just two wins away from perhaps the single greatest championship showdown in Northern Westchester history.
Two Class A semifinal wins – one from No.1A Yorktown over No.2B Sleepy Hollow, and one from No.2A Somers over No.1B Rye — is what it will take before mayhem strike the region, the kind of madcap lunacy we’ve never seen before in the quarter century of coverage provided by this scribe.
If Coach Mike Rescigno’s state-ranked (No.9) Huskers and Coach Tony DeMatteo’s state-ranked (No.10) Tuskers do what is expected of them this coming weekend in a pivotal Week 9, all heck will break loose on Twitter before the two neighboring rivals and their invigorated fan bases have at it on the grid.
That subject matter is taboo among players and coaches and cannot be broached until the moment is right, but seconds after host Yorktown (8-0) sweated out a 28-21 over No.4B Nyack, and host Somers (7-1) had made short work of No.3 B Walter Panas in a 45-0 rout, football fans across the region couldn’t help but look ahead to potential gridiron matchup that might spawn tent cities at Mahopac, home of the Section 1 football championships, the weekend of November 8th.
Two-time reigning Section 1 Class A champion Somers vs. state-ranked (No.12) Rye will pit two coaches that have nearly 600 victories between them, as DeMatteo – Section 1’s prime minister of defense – locks horns with Garnet legend Dino Garr and his high-flying wave of offense. Yeah, the two mentors respect the crap out of each other, but there ain’t a football field big enough to contain the Id, Ego and Super Ego of these two giants. Wit will be winged as the internal chess match decides the outcome of what could be one of the best semifinals matchups in a decade, which just happens to be a rematch of last year’s title tilt.
Somers is hitting on all cylinders after shaking off Panas in a game that was essentially decided seven minutes into the first quarter with the Tuskers holding a 21-0 lead. Tusker RB/DB Matt Morgante, who broke two long TD runs, set the tone with a snot-knocking hit on Panas RB Nayquan Harris, who got rocked but took the helmet-jarring hit in stride before heading to the hospital with foggy recollection. It was the kind of hit kids talk about for a lifetime, but nothing new to Morgante (112 yards on 4 carries), pound for pound one of the best players in the section.
“The Morgante stick was easily the hardest hit I’ve ever seen in real life,” Fazzinga said. “Morgante is all instinct and he sniffed that screen out right away and knocked the kid’s face off.
I think what’s pretty amazing is that Panas is a pretty good football team, but we were on our game, not only last night but this whole week at practice and everything just clicked tonight.”
Before long, Timmy Fazzinga (two-yard plunge), Morgante, Tyler Devito (31 yards from QB Nick Lombardo) and Joe Spor (pick 6) were celebrating first-half TDs as the Tuskers built a 31-0 halftime edge and never ceded. It was football at its purest form; swarming, ball-hawking defense and Wing-T precision (10 different rushers going for 259 yards), which Panas (4-4), despite a solid campaign, had no answer for.
Somers kicker Eric Silvester, just a junior, is the best in Section 1 this season, adding nine points. This kid is a serious weapon and has D-I written all over him.
It wasn’t nearly as easy for YORKTOWN, which saw HB Nick Santavicca rush 25 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Just a junior, Santavicca’s become the program’s most punishing rusher since John Fennessy (circa 2008).
Husker FB Tim Forbes scored the winning TD with 29 seconds remaining, capping the fate-sealing 40-yard drive, on which QB Ryan Baker’s fourth-and-9 pass to TE Daniel Del Bene (6 catches, 75 yards) extended the drive. Del Bene’s juggling catch at the sideline gave Yorktown first-and-goal at the 10. It didn’t go for a TD, but it was one of the biggest grabs of the last decade for Yorktown.
“Dan made a great play on a ball that wasn’t the best I’ve ever thrown but he’s and athlete and got it done to save our season,” said Baker, who was exceptional through the air, hitting on 13 for 26 for 162 yards and a TD strike to TE James Fennessy (5 grabs, 66 yards). “Nyack was probably the toughest team we’ve faced so far and had great players.”
Talk about your spooky ironies: Yorktown will host Sleepy Hollow in the semifinals Friday at 7 p.m. on Halloween for the right to contest for its first sectional title since 1998. Yorktown defense will be tested and has to stop Headless Horsemen QB Joey Good, who is every bit his namesake, and every bit as frightening as Ichabod Crane if the Huskers can’t put pressure on him.
“Whichever two teams that deserve to play in that sectional title game will make it an absolute war, with all the talent in these Final 4 teams have,” Baker said.
CLASS AA
MAHOPAC BUILDING FOR FUTURE
Like it often does, visiting MAHOPAC (5-3) gave state-ranked (No.3) New Rochelle fits but fell short in a 21-7 quarterfinal loss last Saturday. There is no denying the Huguenots were the better team, but the never-say-die Indians should be credited with a solid season and a heck of an effort against one of New York State’s best programs (if not the best the last decade).
Competing in Class AA is no easy deal, particularly with the advent of two state-ranked Dutchess County programs – No.19 John Jay EF and No.30 Arlington – making serious hay the last few years. But Mahopac got back into the playoffs for the first time since 2010 and gave both New Ro’ and Jay EF all they could handle in two stiff challenges provided by Coach Tom Donahoe’s Indians.
With a stout offensive line returning intact next season, plus a gutsy quarterback – junior Dan Foley – and a core of fresh RBs – like junior Christian Donahoe and Joe Cavaciutti — who improved each game, the sky is the limit next season. Mark it down: Barring poor health or something unforeseen, Mahopac should be poised to win a playoff game next season, and who knows what else after a 2014 campaign that has them clearly ranked at No.5 in Section 1 Class AA. This, from a program that has had three of its finest student athletes transfer to private schools like Don Bosco (Tommy Courtney, who might start in the secondary as a soph, whoa!), Trinity Catholic (Anthony Lombardi, who is lighting it up on the CT circuit) and Stepinac (Antonio Giannico, a dashing RB).
For now, though, the Indians will have to buy a ticket into their own stadium for the Class AA finals the weekend of Nov. 8th as the No. 2A Arlington vs. No 1B New Ro winner takes on the No 3A Mamaroneck vs. No.1A JJEF winner.
Speaking of Next Year: Watch out for Brewster junior signal caller Matt Catalano, who went off in Friday’s 35-28 win over Lakeland, completing 12 of 18 passes for 272 yards and four touchdowns. Kid can spin it.
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