Garnets Makes No Excuses in 29-12 Loss to Pleasantville
In the fourth game of the season, on September 22, Rye High lost a hard-fought battle against Pleasantville, last year’s NYS Class B Runners-Up.
The Garnets started out strong, Ameer White came up huge with a goal-line interception on the Panthers’ opening drive. They opened up the scoring on the ensuing possession with a rushing TD by Chris Iuliano. Rye narrowly missed turning a botched Pleasantville snap into a touchdown in the closing minutes of the half, which ended with the Garnets up 12-7.
Pleasantville settled down in the second half and tightened up on defense, holding Rye’s traditionally explosive offense scoreless. The Panthers were able to cross the goal line two more times in the second half.
While the Garnets refused to make any excuses for the loss, a rash of penalties and absence of eight injured starters certainly did not help their cause. “They came out with a good game plan and executed it well. We made too many mistakes, but we’re going to learn from our mistakes, and we’ll see them in the playoffs,” said Iuliano.
On the defensive side, Rye came prepared for hard-running Daniel Picart, the returning Class B Player of the Year, holding him to under 100 yards rushing. Ameer White, Andrew Wilmarth, and Iuliano each came up with clutch interceptions, while Owen “Jimmy” Wellburn continued his fearsome defensive attack, leading the team with 10 total tackles.
Iuliano once again demonstrated his mettle with 128 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 29 carries. Even though quarterback A.J. Miller connected with Jack Acciavatti four times for 39 yards and Archer Fenton for a 49-yard reception, Rye was unable to find the end zone in the second half.
The 2-2 Garnets are back home at Nugent Stadium this Friday, September 29 at 7 against the Nyack Red Hawks, and away at Byram Hills the following week.
