Football: North Rockland with 4 picks, one for 100-yard TD, as it beats Mamaroneck 39-23

HAVERSTRAW — Big plays and high school football often go hand in hand.

But Friday night's clash between visiting Mamaroneck and North Rockland was a game whose first score came off a bad snap to Mamaroneck's punter and whose last score came on a 100-yard North Rockland return of an interception with 1:22 to play.

Among other big plays, there were also three other North Rockland picks, a 75-yard North Rockland TD run, a clutch Mamaroneck TD pass, a goal-line stand by Mamaroneck that started with the Red Raiders with first down on the Tiger 1, and an other-worldly running performance by Mamaroneck's QB, who gained 245 yards on 40 carries.

But while QB Henry Mackie's performance might have earned him a game ball — as well as perhaps an ice bath for all the pounding he took — it was North Rockland that earned the 39-23 win to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The game was iced when North Rockland's King Saint Fleur picked off a pass at his own goal line with little more than a minute-and-a-half to play, then ran 100 yards to pay-dirt.

Gamie Sauveur, who was a virtual one-man wrecking crew in North Rockland's come-from-behind win over Monroe-Woodbury last week was bottled up for a good portion of Friday's game but only after he broke free on a 75-yard TD run that had put his squad up 14-3 in the first quarter.

That lead would expand to 20-3 before Mamaroneck came back to cut it to 20-16 at the half and would continue to stick around until that Fleur pick and score.

But Sauveur liked his squad's bend-but-not-break resiliency.

"I liked how we didn't give up. It's just the little things we have to fix going forward. Just executing. A lot of times in the game we gave up big plays but they are fixable mistakes," he said.

Of course, the biggest play of all was by North Rockland.

Saint Fleur said he knew Mackie's pass was coming his way when he saw the QB turn his shoulders.

"I cut the route and took it to the crib. .... There was nothing but green grass (in front of me)," he said, describing himself as "tired and gassed" after 100 yards.

What it means

The game, which was delayed, and then paused due to thunderstorms at the Haverstraw Sports Complex, was the season opener for Mamaroneck, last year's Section 1 Class AA runner-up at 9-1.

But a new year has meant big changes for the Tigers, who beat North Rockland 21-7 last year.

Mamaroneck graduated 24 players from last year's team, including most of its starters.

"We found out who we were tonight," said coach Anthony Vitti, whose team amassed 395 yards of total offense compared to North Rockland's 209 but was undercut by those four interceptions and the bad snap that led to the first Red Raider score.

Despite those errors, Vitti said, "I'm so damn proud and I know we're just going to get better."

While Mackie had those picks, he also garnered praise from both sidelines with Vitti saying, "We put a lot on him" and explaining his play last year at middle linebacker showed Mackie was "made for high-speed collisions."

And, indeed, while his throwing hand was wrapped in ice at the end of game, Mackie had immediately popped up from even the most violent takedowns.

For North Rockland, which also got a tremendous performance from Ethan Farrar, the game might have had its moments of frustration (its inability to score after getting to the 1 perhaps heading that list), Coach James Hickey pointed to one big positive: Compared to years past, when an opponent grabbed the momentum and held it for a win, his team recaptured the momentum multiple times Friday.

Key plays

And one of the big contributors to that was Farrar.

On fourth and 10 late in the first quarter, he hauled in a 26-yard scoring pass from Hamilton.

He also returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter about 70 yards to the Tiger 10, then scored on a jet sweep left on the net play to expand the Red Raider lead to 26-16.

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North Rockland's other scores included. Jair Mclane's recovery of the airmailed snap into the end zone, which happened with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

And after Mamaroneck slashed North Rockland's lead to 26-23, Hamilton, who was 5-for 9 for 99 yards in the air, hit a wide-open Jaiden Harrison over the middle on a 50-yard catch-and-run scoring play with 3:46 left in the game.

Ryan Jaslow also converted three PAT kicks,

Jaquan Johnson had a 61-yard kickoff return and Freddy Vasquez also had a big defensive game for North Rockland.

For Mamaroneck, TJ Smith carried 14 times for 64 yards and one, 1-yard touchdown.

Mackie had one, 2-yard TD run.

He also was 7-for-15 for 90 yards. Included were some clutch strikes to Jackson Davidson. And 18 of those yards came on a scoring pass to Brian Auker which cut the North Rockland lead to 20-16 with just about half a minute left in the first half.

Zach Sheppard also had a 29-yard field goal and two extra points.

They said it

"I give so much props to their quarterback," Farrar said of Mackie. "He ran all game. He'd put his shoulder down and run for extra yards."

Farrar liked North Rockland's perseverance and said his team's "mantra is sticking together."

But as much as he also liked that, Hickey, whose squad was 5-5 last year, lamented his team not scoring after having the ball on the 1. In fact, Mamaroneck pushed it back to the 11.

"It comes down to attention to detail and focus. If you want to be a great team you can't have that lack of attention to detail," he said.

What's next

Both teams' upcoming practice week is short due to Rosh Hashanah occurring next weekend.

North Rockland will travel to Roosevelt High in Yonkers Thursday to face the Yonkers Force in a 4 p.m. game and Mamaroneck will host Ossining at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Football: North Rockland beats Mamaroneck, scoring on 100-yard pick, more