Football: Yorktown lives by, Fox Lane dies by blocked punts, other big plays in 26-0 game
Yorktown entered its Friday night homecoming game against Fox Lane as a solid favorite.
A 26-0 final score would seem to affirm expectations.
But the Huskers, held scoreless for most of the first half, didn’t so much dominate the Foxes as blindside them with a handful of big plays, including two blocked punts, one of which gave Yorktown its second touchdown and came less than a minute-and-a-half after its first TD, whose roots also lay in another blocked punt.
What it means
With the loss, Fox Lane dropped to 2-3. Coach Andrew Giuliano believes a playoff berth is still possible. But the Foxes are facing a bit of an uphill battle and will have to find a way to put more points on the board- than they have in most games.
Fox Lane’s three losses have been by shutout. It entered Yorktown territory multiple times Friday to no avail. And its next game is against 4-2 Mahopac, which also lost to Yorktown but by just two points, 19-17.
Yorktown, meanwhile, is rolling along at 6-0, despite recording its second-lowest point total of the season.
A team of multi-sport athletes, some of whom are committed to playing other sports in college, the Huskers used their speed to record multiple tackles for Fox Lane losses, including sacks, and to force Fox QB John Czernyk into two intentional grounding penalties, as well as into hurries that resulted in incompletions.
Key plays
Defense, in fact, was both teams’ strength Friday.
Fox Lane came close to scoring late in the first quarter during a drive that featured a 38-yard pass play from John Czernyk to Will Rudolph. But the drive ended with an Andrew Weismann fourth-down end zone pick.
The game changed with two huge Husker defensive gems late in the second quarter.
With the game scoreless and with Fox Lane with a fourth-and-three from the Husker 47, the Foxes tried a trick play they no doubt wish they hadn’t run.
Out of a normal shotgun formation, Czernyk tried a quick punt. But Rocco Lore partially blocked the ball, which was then caught not far from the line of scrimmage by Husker Jack Ferone, who carried it back to his own 43, meaning the punt’s net gain was just four yards.
Six plays later, Husker quarterback Kaden Gonzalez, who’s having a very strong year but is perhaps better recognized for his basketball skills rolled right, escaped one pursing defender who got a hand on him, and threw down the right sideline. A Fox defender went for the pick and missed and senior receiver Tom Costello made the grab, and raced to the end zone for a 24-yard score.
The TD pass, coming with 2:46 left in the first half, was Gonzalez’s 15th of the season. He was 4-for-9 for 63 yards for the game.
Fox Lane’s Brian Bailey blocked the extra point kick but that was largely forgotten 80 seconds later when Tyler Galante correctly read a Fox play that had worked several times — a quick hit left — and, in full stride, ran between Czernyk and his intended target, intercepted the pass and, untouched, 23 yards later, recorded the Huskers’ second TD.
A two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.
After Yorktown stopped a Fox Lane drive, despite Ben Rotolo getting 37 of his 101 yards on one carry to the Husker 30, the Huskers went into the half up 12-0..
The Huskers’ next score came with 6:07 left in the third quarter when, with Fox Lane punting from its own 39, Husker senior Matt Cicinelli roared through the Fox offensive line and blocked the punt, then chased the bounding ball and picked it up and crossed the goal line.
Off a beautiful fake, Gonzalez ran in the two-point conversion untouched.
Yorktown failed to capitalize after getting the ball on downs after the Huskers’ leading tackler, Ryan Vogel, who’ll play lacrosse for Siena next year, sacked Czernyk for a 12-yard loss to the Yorktown 49.
But Vogel was again in the thick of things during the Fox’s next offensive series, which closed the third quarter and opened the fourth.
Vogel was on the receiving end of a deflected Czernyk pass and gave the Huskers possession at the Fox 37.
A few plays later, on a third-and-24 from Yorktown’s 49, Gonzalez hit Costello with a 40-yard pass to the Fox 11 and on the next play, Chris Constantine, who’ll play lacrosse for Lehigh next year, swept left and in for the score.
Yorktown’s bid for an extra score ended with a Logan Mammola interception at the Fox 25.
They said it
“I wanted to score it so bad,” Cicinelli said of pursuing his blocked punt and getting the TD.
Costello, who plans to decide soon which college to attend and play football for, characterized the game as “one of those nights,” noting his team failed to mount its normal sustained drives.
“Big plays carried us,” the three-year varsity player said, adding his team was fueled by the energy coming from a big Homecoming Night crowd.
Guiliano, the Foxes’ three-year head coach, indicated the Foxes have had problems beating teams whose players started playing football in community youth programs, some starting as young as second grade.
“Our program has struggled for years and we’re trying to get the kids to come out of that but it’s not easy. It hurts us in our hearts,” he said of losing, explaining he needs his players to believe in themselves more.
“Our program is not good enough to win big games (yet),” he said, describing many Fox games as “close, close, close.”
“We get these semi-moral victories,” Guiliano said.
Up next
Fox Lane will try to turn that into an actual victory Friday when it will host Mahopac at 6 p.m.
Yorktown will play at Brewster Friday in a 7 p.m. start.
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.
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.
(Credit: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Football: Pick 6, blocked punts help carry Yorktown over Fox Lane 26-0
