The Huguenots Roll Run Through the Red Raiders

BY JONATHAN CALIXENTE 

Saturday afternoon the New Rochelle Huguenots returned to Casarella Field after two seasons and defeated the Red Raiders 48-0. North Rockland and New Rochelle are rivalries however in the last two times they each squared off New Rochelle has been the favorite as well as the winner. The Red Raiders last faced the Huguenots in 2015 with a final score of 33-0 and on both occasions, the Red Raiders can’t seem to put the football in the end zone again. 

Going into this game the Huguenots came in undefeated and Assistant Head Coach, Greg Forest says, “We expect to play as hard as we can we can’t determine what the outcome of the game is by the score as long as we have more than we are okay to win”. New Rochelle ended up having more than the expected and never once showed any weakness.  With New Rochelle’s strong defense, quarterbacks, Jeffrey Abrams, Dylan Senatore and Wander Martinez scrambled more than they threw the ball collectively. 

Head coach Tom Lynch of North Rockland says, his reason for running the ball more than passing it was to get more time on their side during the game. “We tried to shorten the game if you pass you length the game so when we run the ball we were hoping to run the ball to give us some first downs.”

Spectators of the game can easily say that the Red Raiders lost for several reasons, however, according to Coach Lynch, it was mainly because of a mistake on top of more mistakes. Coach Lynch says, “Our biggest mistakes came with interception returned for a touchdown, fumbled kickoff and punt return touchdown and as soon as they turn the ball over we threw an interception” 

In the first half of the game, Mike Thevenot drops a kicked ball at the 17-yard line the ball is scooped by Halim Dixon-king and he scores a touchdown. In addition to this, defensive back Myles Taylor interceptions to passes one being a one-handed. After a scoreless game Coach Tom Lynch says, “We aren’t where we used to be.         

The Red Raiders finished the 2016 season with a 5-4 record making it all the way to the Section I – Quarterfinals where they were defeated by the Arlington Admirals, 20-13 now North Rockland doesn’t look like a post-season team sitting at 1-3. The Red Raiders will go on to face Clarkstown South on Thursday night who holds a record of 2-2. According to Coach Lynch, a new scheme will have to be drawn up when facing Clarkstown South. “Against South, we have to be able to move the ball more quickly and stop the run better than we stopped the run today.” 

  New Rochelle baseball, New Rochelle Huguenots