Harrison Triple-Option Offense Causes Problems for Sleepy Hollow 31-8
The Harrison Huskies and the Sleepy Hollow Horsemen both came into Friday night’s game with a good amount of momentum. Both teams had 2-0 records and had big wins a week earlier. The Horsemen beat Rye for the first time in several years and the Huskies had an amazing come from behind victory over John Jay-Cross River.
Unfortunately Friday night belonged to the Huskies as they won 31-8 to improve to 3-0 while the Horsemen dropped to 2-1.
During the first possession of the game the Huskies showed why their triple-option offense in so effective. In six plays they marched down the field 72-yards resulting in their first touchdown of the game.
When the Horsemen got the ball for their first possession of the game they looked like they were going to answer the Huskies scoring drive very quickly. Junior quarterback Devin Lopez gained nine yards on a keeper play. This was followed by a 13-yard from junior running back Dominic Onwe. During the next two plays Lopez ran the ball two times in a row to get the Horsemen to the Huskies 30-yard line.
This is when things started to unravel for the Horsemen. After an offensive holding penalty Lopez was sacked on three consecutive plays by the Huskies defense.
The Horsemen were facing a fourth down play when they needed eight yards. Horsemen head coach Steve Borys decided to go for the first down and the play resulted in an incomplete pass and the Huskies got the ball back. This offensive possession would be the Horsemen’s most productive until the fourth quarter when the Huskies had removed several starters.
Two plays later the Huskies scored a touchdown on an 11-yard pass play. In all, the Huskies on this Friday night would go on to score 31 unanswered points in the game. The Huskies pulled most of their starters at the end of the third quarter.
They ran a triple-option offense that gave the Horsemen several problems in terms of coverage and trying to contain the Huskies many offensive weapons.
Their only scoring drive of the game occurred late in the fourth quarter. Senior running back Steve Bencosme sparked the Horsemen scoring drive with a 44-yard run. On the next play Onwe ran for 18 yards. Two plays later Lopez hit Onwe with one of his passes and it resulted in a 34-yard pass play. The Horsemen were successful on the two-point conversion to make it a 31-8 game. On the two-point conversion senior wide receiver Dionel Infante passed the ball to senior tight end Ezekiel Sierra.
“We were well prepared. This came down to the plays their guys made. We didn’t. They executed better than us and that was the difference right there,” said Borys after the game about his team’s performance versus the Huskies.
Borys believes his team could have been more successful on offense.
“We just didn’t make plays We have people open. We either dropped it or we missed it, or we didn’t protect. We just have to execute better and we will get them next week,” said Borys.
The Horsemen have many good athletes on their team. One of them is sophomore defensive tackle Anthony Curanaj who plays the game with a lot of energy and had several tackles in the game. Lopez is a quarterback who possesses speed and a very strong arm. His timing was off on Friday and he will only get better with each game he plays in. Also the Horsemen have two running backs who are both very fast and strong runners in Bencoseme and Onwe.
This week the Horsemen will be at home on Saturday afternoon against John Jay-Cross River. So far in 2012 John Jay-Cross River has a record of 2-1. Their wins came over Tappan Zee and Horace Greeley.
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