Yorktown Wins a Wild Shootout With the Quakers
in last Thursday’s game against Yorktown.
By A.J. Martelli
Both the Yorktown Huskers and Horace Greeley Quakers have been among the most entertaining of teams on the gridiron this year. So the eyes of local football fans turned to them when they squared off this past Thursday in Quaker country.
The showdown almost became a one-on-one duel between Husker junior running back Nick Santavicca and Quaker senior quarterback Cameron Ciero. In the end, it was Santavicca and Yorktown outshooting the Quakers 32-21 with some full-throttle horsepower.
“When it’s Greeley-Yorktown, we always expect a challenge,” said Santavicca, who racked up 328 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns. “Big, tough physical kids wanting to win. We weren’t expecting them to punch it in our face right away, but we had to answer the call – and I’m glad they did. It showed us a little adversity, showed us that we had to play all four quarters. We weren’t just going to be handed it.”
The Quakers and Huskers matched blows throughout the first two quarters, but Greeley led 21-19 with 5:45 left in the first half. That’s when Santavicca, from Yorktown’s 45-yard line, rushed to near the goal line after finding a hole and breaking tackles along the way. The huge carry set up short-yardage weapon Tim Forbes, who ran it in to give the Huskers a 26-21 lead they never relinquished.
Facing a daunting third-and-25 late in the fourth quarter, the Quakers again turned to Santavicca, who found a hole and raced in all the way from midfield to disappoint Quaker fans and seal the outcome.
“We came in to win the game, and it took every ounce of our being and hearts to come out with it,” Yorktown head coach Mike Rescigno said. “I’m glad we had a test. I’m glad that we had a game that we had to dig deeper, and it wasn’t something that we were in front the whole time. You don’t learn anything about yourself in that situation. We had to fight here, right from the get-go. Cameron has an arm, he throws a good ball. They (the Quakers) had a good game plan. It wasn’t easy, but we came out on top.”
Ciero hooked up with main target Jonathan Kratz for a 42-yard touchdown to put the Quakers ahead 14-7 with 11:52 left in the half. The Huskers responded by moving the ball to the goal line to set up Forbes, who broke the plane to make it 14-13. But the extra point was no good for the Huskers, who struggled several times after scoring a TD, missing a point-after attempt and a pair of two-point conversions.
The Quakers and Huskers traded touchdowns again before halftime. Ciero rushed 75 yards on a keeper, getting to the right sideline and outrunning everyone to the goal line, to make it 21-13 before Forbes scored again, this time from two yards out. A 65-yard Santavicca kickoff return had set the table for the undefeated Huskers.
Rescigno mentioned how valuable Forbes was in short-yard opportunities.
“Tim’s a tough kid,” he said. “We expect it out of him. When we’re in short-yardage situations, he’s our go-to guy. I wasn’t surprised by his performance.”
Greeley began the game with a Ciero 27-yard touchdown pass to Kratz. But the Huskers answered on the ensuing drive with a 52-yard carry by Santavicca to the house to tie it up. The second quarter began with the teams tied at 7-7.
Quakers head coach Tim Sullivan, very familiar with the Huskers because he’s a guidance counselor at Yorktown High School, felt his team rose to the occasion of hanging tough with a formidable foe.
“I thought our kids did a great job adjusting,” he said. “That’s the best team in (Class) A and we went toe-to-toe with them all day, so I’m very proud of our guys. These guys bend, but they don’t break. They have a lot of fortitude.”
Sullivan also spoke highly of Ciero, who finished the dark, overcast day with 224 yards in the air and another 203 on the ground.
“He always does a great job,” he said of his quarterback. “He’s a gamer. I can count on him at any time.”
The Quakers, now 3-2, will look to make some adjustments before their game at North Rockland on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Huskers (5-0) hope to stay unbeaten when they host Tappan Zee on Friday.
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