Workhorse Salzarulo Lifts the Panthers to a Victory
83-yard touchdown vs. Blind Brook.
By Danny Lopriore – Nick Salzarulo was everywhere Saturday night, making big defensive stops and lugging the ball on offense to anchor Pleasantville’s 38-6 victory over visiting Blind Brook on Homecoming Day.
The senior fullback/linebacker heard his No. 32 repeated by the public address announcer over and over again as he led the Panthers’ defense by recovering a fumble, making numerous tackles and rushing for 45 yards and a touchdown on offense.
“We knew they did a lot of option offense, but we came prepared and once we got over the Homecoming Day distractions, we played together as a defense,” Salzarulo said. “The defense played well, especially our guys coming up as juniors. We practice first whistle, the guy makes the play; second whistle, 11 hats to the ball. We want to tire the offenses out.”
The defending Section 1, Class B champion Panthers upped their record to 3-0 and now head for a showdown with unbeaten rival Westlake (3-0) Saturday afternoon at 1:30 at Westlake.
“We know what to expect with Westlake because they are so well coached and make very few mistakes,” Panthers coach Tony Becerra said. “We have to be disciplined, and just like with Blind Brook stick with our keys and assignments. The defense has been able to deal with the option offense for the most part.”
The home team opened the scoring with a 22-yard field goal by quarterback/kicker Jack Howe in the first quarter as the Panthers’ offense stalled early. Howe, who threw for 103 yards and a touchdown, also made all six of his point-after kicks.
But it was No. 32 who got the Homecoming crowd going when he recovered a fumble to stop a Blind Brook drive inside the Panthers’ 20-yard line late in the second quarter. The Panther offense answered the wake-up call, scoring on the very next play when running back Jared Wilens raced 83 yards for a touchdown and a 9-0 lead.
“Our offense has been getting more comfortable with both the running and passing game,” Salzarulo said. “The defense has to be consistent to compliment the offense. I try to take some of the load off (Charlie McPhee), who runs the ball so hard and is such a good running back. We need guys to step up to give him a break and I’m willing to do that.”
Blind Brook responded quickly, using a pass on a fake punt to set up a short touchdown run and the Panthers’ lead was cut to 10-6 at halftime.
“Jared’s run was a big play that got us going,” Becerra said. “He is a sophomore and is one of our speed guys. Howe is getting the ball to receivers in open spots and that helps with the running game as well. We are getting contributions from the running back group, Nick, Jared and Danny (Minerva).”
Pleasantville came out of the halftime locker room fired up. Howe hit an elusive Charlie McPhee with a 40-yard touchdown strike for a 17-6 lead and the defense, led by Salzarulo, Tim Driscoll, Cullen Dell and James Daniele stopped Blind Brook again. Jaden Kammer was also a regular visitor to the Blind Brook backfield making big plays.
A 14-yard pass from Howe to Declan McDermott led to a five-yard touchdown run by McPhee, who gained 66 yards on 14 carries in the game, and the Panthers opened up a 24-6 lead with 11 minutes remaining. McDermott busted a 51-yard scoring run to make the score 31-6 and Salzarulo completed the scoring with a 6-yard run.
“I’d say our success is based on our conditioning,” said Salzarulo. “You have to have that inner strength to push through late in games. We do at least 45 minutes of conditioning through each practice and we also do strength circuits Monday and Thursday to stay strong.”
No. 32 was already looking toward Westlake before leaving the field.
“Westlake is so well coached and does so many things well,” he said. “We have to each do our job, not make mistakes and handle their option offense. It is a big challenge.”
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