It may have been senior night at Yorktown, but it was a sophomore who came of age in a thriller of a contest against visiting Brewster on Oct. 24.
Trailing Brewster 27-23 with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter with a home playoff date on the line, Yorktown sophomore quarterback David Jerome (8/13, 189 yards) engineered a seven-play, 73-yard drive that culminated in a 23-yard touchdown pass to Nicholas Hashim (4 receptions, 94 yards), giving Yorktown a 29-27 lead in an eventual 36-34 Husker win.
“As soon as we got the ball back, we didn’t care how much time was left on the clock,” Jerome said. “We knew we had to go and score, and get the homefield for the playoffs next week.”
The win was the Huskers’ third in a row after a 1-4 start and it enabled them to secure a home playoff game in the quarterfinals of the Section 1 Class A Tournament. No. 2A Yorktown will host No. 3B Eastchester on Friday, Oct. 31, in that contest.
“As I said last week, we needed to get that two seed desperately,” Jerome said. “It all started with that Mahopac win (14-7) two weeks ago. That brought our momentum and energy to a place we hadn’t experienced this whole season.”
Helping Yorktown garner that No. 2 seed was Tyler Caricati (25 carries, 186 yards; 3 tackles), who ran all night through the massive holes you could drive a truck through made by the Huskers’ offensive linemen, Rocco Lore (9 tackles, 1 for a loss), Michael Desiderio, Nick Salerno, Darin Butler, and Sean Munnelly.
Yorktown (4-4), which had 462 yards of total team offense, jumped out to a 7-0 lead when the Huskers finished their 12-play, 56-yard opening drive on a 2-yard Eamon Coney touchdown run 3:40 into the game.
“It felt great to drive down the field and set the tone on the first drive, that was just awesome,” Coney said. “Our offensive line did a great job and it was a great play call by coach (offensive coordinator Brandon) Trager.”
After a second quarter 20-yard touchdown scamper by Brewster quarterback Chase Prohaszka tied the game, Coney (13 carries, 77 yards; 10 tackles) put the Huskers back in front 13-7 with some quick reactions: He dropped the snap, but the ball bounced off the turf right back up to him. So he grabbed it and ran 8 yards for the touchdown to finish a 12-play, 80-yard drive with 3:10 to go before halftime.
“Again, all the credit to the offensive line for giving me the time to get the ball back and I knew it was just wide open, so I just took it up the middle,” Coney said.
Brewster answered with a 3-yard touchdown run by Prohaszka to take a 1-point lead but a 28-yard yard field goal by Adam Yakout (3/5 PATs) with 3 seconds remaining before halftime gave the Huskers a 16-14 advantage. The play was set up by a 41-yard pass from Jerome to Hashim.
Brewster went back up 21-16 on a 2-yard touchdown run from Prohaszka with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter but the Huskers on their next possession got the lead right back, 23-21, on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Jerome to Tyler Galante (4 receptions, 93 yards; 3 carries, 20 yards; 7 tackles), who caught the ball at the Brewster 38 and flew down the sideline untouched for the score.
Prohaszka regained the advantage for Brewster with his fourth touchdown run, this one for 17 yards in the final quarter. It gave the Bears a 27-23 lead before Hashim’s touchdown catch put Yorktown up 29-27.
A 3-yard touchdown run by Caricati with 1:40 to go in the contest extended Yorktown’s lead to 36-27 but Prohaszka hooked up with Mike Subin on a 39-yard touchdown pass with 1:07 left in the game, cutting Yorktown’s lead to 36-34. The Huskers recovered the onside kick to seal the victory.
“Every time we play these guys (Bears) it’s a war, it’s an amazing game,” said Yorktown coach Pantelis Ypsilantis. “Coach (Brewster’s Ed Muhlvihill) does a great job with his team. Both teams met the challenges and we were just lucky to make an extra play at the end. That’s as good a high-school football game as you are going to see.”
Anthony Cappelli (5 tackles) and Aidan Concannon (4 tackles) also contributed to the Huskers’ win.
Galante (captain), Desiderio (captain), Lore (captain), Yakout, Hashim, Butler, Munnelly, Salerno, Kyle Jenkins, JT Carney, Dion Balaj, Giancarlo Gentile, Andrew Callaghan, Peter Soc, Gianluca Marchini, Nicholas D’Andraia, Jack Mooney, Alex Sayegh, Mitchell D’Alessio, Aidan Pepshi, John Guven, and A.J. Vega were the Yorktown seniors honored before the game.
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