Fresh off a rousing 33-7 win over a tough Dobbs Ferry team, the Rye Neck eleven “welcomed” Blind Brook to the Hornidge Road House of Pain on Homecoming Weekend, October 18.
By Mitch Silver
Fresh off a rousing 33-7 win over a tough Dobbs Ferry team, the Rye Neck eleven “welcomed” Blind Brook to the Hornidge Road House of Pain on Homecoming Weekend, October 18. The result was an expected 32-14 victory, though it wasn’t a cakewalk.
After the Black Hats forced Blind Brook to punt on the opening series, Jake Sevean and Dom Brescia ran two plays and gained 54 yards to put themselves on the Trojans’ 4. An easy score by Brescia, almost too easy, made it 6-0. But Chris Richart was stopped going for two.
The gambling continued with Rye Neck attempting an onside kick following the TD. Blind Brook recovered and running back William Golding scampered 45 yards on the second play from scrimmage to knot the score, 6-6. Going for two, a false start penalty cost the Trojans the chance to take the lead; then Sevean and Chris Colangelo combined to knock down the pass on the second attempt.
That was the football part of the opening period. The non-football part consisted of unsportsmanlike penalties on each side and a lot of pushing and shoving after the whistles.
Coach Nick Ianello had worried before the game that “dumb stuff, like false starts and motion penalties,” would keep his team from hitting their stride in the big Homecoming game in front of the alumni.
Whatever he said during the halftime talk, it worked. Behind a whopping 312 rushing yards for the game from co-captain Dom Brescia — he’s already amassed over 1,400 yards in just six games — the Black Hats settled down to grind the Blind Brook defensive line into paste, scoring 26 points in the final 30 minutes. Sevean would add another 125 yards in only seven carries, and sophomore Nick D’Errico scooped up a fumble and took it 35 yards all the way.
On defense, Richart was credited with an amazing 15 tackles, and fellow seniors Pedro Cueto and Matt Garofalo had 10 each. Throw in a Garofalo sack and a Richart interception and all in all it was a convincing win for Rye Neck, now 5-1 on the season.
The Panthers will open the Class C playoffs with a return match against Dobbs Ferry at home October 25 at 1 p.m.
