Football Notebook: White Plains Drops to 0-5, Woodlands 5-0 Prepares for Big Match-up, Sleepy Hollow Wins Two in a Row
The regular season is winding down already and the high school playoffs are less than a few weeks away. Here is a quick look how the local teams did over the weekend and what key games they have coming up.
White Plains
There are some times in sports where you can put all of your heart and soul into your particular sport and the outcome will be very disappointing. There is a big difference from trying to succeed and throwing in the towel.
The White Plains football team and their coaching staff have practiced, planned and played with every ounce of effort and emotion one team can give and have yet to be rewarded with a victory.
Unfortunately their record dropped to 0-5 this week when they lost 17-7 at North Rockland on Saturday. Chris Jordan scored the only touchdown for the Tigers.
This season has unfortunately has been the perfect storm for the Tigers. They have the toughest schedule in all of Section 1. If you add up the 2012 records of their five opponents Harrison (5-0), New Rochelle (5-0), Scarsdale (2-3), John Jay-East Fishkill (4-1) and North Rockland (4-1) you get a combined 20-5 record. There is no team within the section that has opponents with a better winning percentage.
When you see a team with a 0-5 human nature is to think that squad is bad and isn’t that skilled. That isn’t the case with this Tigers ball club. The Tigers possess an abundance of talent of their roster that had the misfortune of being given a crazy schedule after the team graduated over 20 players from last year’s roster in June.
It will be a very emotional night on Friday as the seniors possibly play their last regular season home game other than the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving versus Stepinac.
Tigers head coach Skip Stevens puts in the most hours year round than any other White Plains varsity coach preparing for football season. He and his players deserve a win big time against Arlington on Friday night. Arlington is going to make the Tigers work for the victory as they’re also 0-5 on the season.
Woodlands
The Falcons are getting ready for their two toughest games of the season in back-to-back weekends. This weekend they have to play at Dobbs Ferry before closing up the regular season against Tuckahoe.
This past weekend the Falcons improved to 5-0 with a 47-0 victory over Blind Brook. It will be interesting to see how many points will be scored by Dobbs Ferry and Woodlands. These two teams have offenses they could combine to score over 80 points in one game
One of the things that could challenge the Falcons is playing the game on the all-natural grass surface at Dobbs Ferry. If there is a lot of rain this week it could slow down arguably the most explosive offense in Section 1.
The more dry the field is on Saturday the more challenge Dobbs Ferry will have trying to control the Falcons offense who have significant weapons in quarterback Justin Riccio, running back Tyrone Barber and wide receiver Dylan Eddy. At publication time the weather prediction for Saturday afternoon is temperatures in the high 50’s and 0 percent of rain.
It will be vital for the Falcons defense to stop Dobbs Ferry’s star running back Tim Soave. Soave has run for over 200 yards twice in 2012. In September when Dobbs Ferry played Burke Catholic he ran for 320 yards and five touchdowns. This weekend versus Hastings he racked up 190 yards.
Sleepy Hollow
Resilient is the key word for the Horsemen. After suffering a tough loss to Harrison several weeks ago they have battled back with two strong victories over John Jay- Cross River and Hendrick Hudson.
Dominick Omwe and Devin Lopez have been taking turns playing superman on the Horsemen’s offense. Two weeks ago against John Jay-Cross River Omwe ran for over 200 yards and scored two touchdowns. In their most recent win Lopez threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in the victory over Hendrick Hudson. The Hudson will have a challenging game against Lakeland on Saturday.
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