It was Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, who, throughout his long major league career, was famous for grinning happily and saying, “Let’s Play Two!”  Hmm, I wonder if Dino Garr’s grinning.

By Mitch Silver

 

It was Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, who, throughout his long major league career, was famous for grinning happily and saying, “Let’s Play Two!”  Hmm, I wonder if Dino Garr’s grinning.

 

Two days after his Rye Garnets wore down the Harrison Huskies to win the 85th edition of The Game at Harrison High by 28-14, the scheduling committee decreed unbeaten and top-seeded Rye would face the 16th and lowest seed in the Section 1 playoff opener this Saturday. And that team just happens to be Harrison.

 

Rye will head into the game at Nugent Stadium with an unblemished 6-0 record, thanks to an outstanding second-half performance after the Huskies scratched and clawed their way to a 14-14 tie at the half.

 

Harrison struck early (with the game starting at 11 a.m., it really was early). Jack Witte caught a short pass from Michael Nannariello on the Huskies’ opening possession, broke a tackle, and found paydirt to give the home side a 7-0 lead.

 

It stayed that way into the second quarter, when Rye’s offense got their wakeup call and put a couple of scores on the board. The Garnets’ first TD came on a 21-yard run by Jamie Chabot. The junior gained 82 yards on 15 carries for the day.

 

Two days after his Rye Garnets wore down the Harrison Huskies to win the 85th edition of The Game at Harrison High by 28-14, the scheduling committee decreed unbeaten and top-seeded Rye would face the 16th and lowest seed in the Section 1 playoff opener this Saturday. And that team just happens to be Harrison.

 

 

Another junior, quarterback T.J. Lavelle, feigned a pass and pulled the ball down and found daylight over left tackle seven minutes later to put Rye up, 14-7. But Harrison came right back on a combination of passes and runs to knot things up again. Then, with a minute left in the half, Lavelle found wide receiver Brett Egan inside the 10 for a first down, but the Huskies’ pair of Roberts, Palmieri and Donohue, came up big to deny the Garnets.

 

The second half started off much like the first. Coach Garr had his men run a fourth-down play 15 yards on their own side of midfield, and Harrison held. But senior defensive end Will Gladstone (more about him later) stripped the ball from QB Nannariello on the very next play, Chase Pratt recovered it, and the Garnets were on their way. Fittingly, co-captain Pratt capped off the drive by rumbling 31 yards for the score.

 

Dino Garr feels strongly about going for it on fourth down instead of punting. “It gives your offense confidence, knowing you believe in them. And it gives your defense confidence too, since we’re going for it because we expect them to stop the other guys.”

 

Talk about confidence: Rye’s defense would allow the Huskies a grand total of 25 yards the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Brett Egan would tack on a fourth TD with a 38-yard strike for a total of 121 yards on the day.

 

After the game, Garr spoke highly of Gladstone’s contribution. “When Patrick Hull was injured in the Lourdes game, we asked Will to step in and go both ways on the line. You saw what he did, opening holes on offense, making important tackles when Harrison had the ball, and forcing that fumble so Chase could recover and start our winning drive. Will deserves a lot of credit.”

 

So, if you were the Harrison coach, how would you feel about facing the team that just took your measure in the big rivalry game? A few hours before the committee announced the pairings, Huskies coach Dom Zanot said, “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we get another chance to play them.”

 

What’s that old axiom? “Be careful what you wish for.”