Albertus Magnus quarterback Ryan McLaughlin set the Section 1 record today for passing yards in a game, throwing for 409 yards and four touchdowns in the Falcons’ 41-34 win over Lincoln Hall in a non-playoff game.

McLaughlin completed only 16 of 23 passes, but threw three long scores in the first half; two to Mike Celenza and one to Corey Lopez. Celenza caught five passes for 200 yards and Lopez had six receptions for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

In the game, McLaughlin also passed Albertus Magnus grad Brian Duffy for the most passing yards in a season in Rockland County. McLaughlin now has 1,909.

More on this in tomorrow’s Journal News.

What a day of football. Here’s a quick rundown of just some of the highlights:

New Rochelle beat White Plains 24-7 to earn its first fourth straight trip to the Section 1 Class AA final and seventh this decade. The Huguenots haven’t lost a championship game in that time.

North Rockland rallied in the final minutes to defeat Arlington 20-14. Again, North Rockland makes its seven appearance in the AA final this decade. The Red Raiders have won three, lost three (all to New Ro).

Roosevelt beat Lakeland 32-7 in a game that was a little closer than the score indicates. Lakeland had the ball inside the Roosevelt 30 twice in the third trailing 19-7 but couldn’t score either time. The Indians pulled away late to set up a Class A final showdown with Poughkeepsie. That game is pretty much the reason they invented field turf.

In Class B, Nanuet steamrolled Kennedy yardage-wise, although the score was only 21-7. Nanuet had three of turnovers after having only one all year or else it would have been a little different.

Sleepy Hollow pulled off a 28-19 upset at Pleasantville behind 300 yards rushing and three touchdowns by Bobby Small. Headless Horsemen coach Steve Borys dressed up as just that — the Headless Horsemen — for Halloween. Yes, that’s him to the right wearing a black cape. You’ll understand more in tomorrow’s Journal News.

In Class C, Croton-Harmon won yet another thriller, scoring in the final minuts to defeat Dobbs Ferry 25-20. Devonte Brailsford had a monster game for the Eagles, who allowed two touchdowns in the final five minutes to fall in the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Bronxville won the day’s other playoff game, beating Hastings 38-7. The Broncos are on a mission.

More news and info to come later.

We’ll be broadcasting the White Plains-New Rochelle game today at lohud.com/vcsports1. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m.

Follow the rest of the action on the Twitter feed:

Rye should have punted. Poughkeepsie shouldn’t have gone for two. Rye should have been in a prevent defense. Poughkeepsie went offsides.

The last 12 hours has featured many of the same comments on this blog. All very valid. If you want read more about last night’s epic Rye-Poughkeepsie game, read my game story here. I spoiled it a little last night by posting the postgame comments on the blog. But the article has a better play-by-play of the action.

It wasn’t the only game last night, although it felt that way. Somers blitzed Nyack 27-0 behind 149 yards rushing from Matt Deiana. Nyack coach John Castellano was ejected in what was surely a spillover of the frustrations from the past few weeks. great column in today’s paper about the ‘Developmental League’ in Class C (known as League 3).

Carp and I differ on this set up. He thinks it’s great that the struggling programs get an opportunity to play a weakened schedule and get their low numbers back up. I’m not disagreeing with that concept. It’s needed at that level. But I have such a difficult time thinking that there’s six teams of players who enter the season without the ultimate dream — winning a state championship — even if it’s fantasy. I think you’ll eventually turn more kids away from football because the games now are almost exhibition.

My idea for Class C is to play a weighted schedule, much like the Piner System. I know people cringe when they hear Piner because they were conditioned to by the promiment coaches in Classes A and B years back. If the Piner would work in any conference in Section 1, it would be Class C. Play an eight-game regular season (assuming Section 1 gives a game back next year) and put four in the playoffs. Trust me, it would work. The Piner is a good system, I don’t care what any of the 200-win coaches say.

Just my take. Going out to eat pancakes and get ready to watch Pleasantville-Sleepy Hollow and Lakeland-Roosevelt. Should be a great day.

The most incredible eight seconds of football I’ve ever witnessed will followed by months of second-guessing, finger-pointing and head-shaking.

How did Josh Graham get so wide open? Did Graham go offsides on the final play? Why didn’t Rye punt on the previous drive? Why did Poughkeepsie go for the 2-point conversion? Were all those penalties against Rye legit?

There are dozens of questions from this game from the fourth quarter alone. In case you don’t know what happened, here’s what transpired:

Rye led 17-0 at the half and was 20-7 to start the fourth quarter before the Pioneers scored on three straight possessions, ending with Josh Graham’s miraculous 49-yard touchdown catch from Jarrid Williams as time expired. Williams had 202 yards in the game, most of which came in the second half, and three touchdowns.

Troy Wright’s 1-yard score with 3:30 left capped an 89-yard drive and pulled Poughkeepsie to within 20-13. The touchdown was set up by a totally legitimate pass-interference call in the end zone. The span on the extra point was low and the holder ran out but was tackled. Rye then went 3-and-out, running just 32 seconds off the clock was Poughkeepsie used two timeouts and an incomplete pass.

The Pioneers then went 66 yards in 58 seconds. Amazingly, Williams was 1 for 7 passing on the drive but was helped by a 30-yard completion on 4th-and-10 to Graham with 2:40 left and then a questionable pass-intereference foul on 4th-and-10 at the Rye 37. Graham broke a 23-yard score on the next play, making it 20-19 with 2:00 left. Poughkeepsie opted to run a “muddle huddle” where six guys are at the left hash, four are in the middle and one is split right. Williams took the snap and tried to throw a pass but was hit by Brendan Nagle as he released and it fell incomplete.

Poughkeepsie coach Ken Barger on the decision:

“We’ve been doing that. We figured that we’re on the road, we had to go for the win. We didn’t want to go to overtime. I stand by the call. I guess I went from zero to hero in the span of eight seconds.”

Once Rye recovered the onside kick, the game should have been over. Oh, it wasn’t.

With no Poughkeepsie timeouts left, Rye ran three plays up the middle and ran the clock down to 27 seconds. Facing fourth-and-6 at the Pioneers 46, Rye elected not to punt to Poughkeepsie’s dangerous return men and instead ran a play where Connor Eck was to roll right and eat up as much time as he could. He only got six seconds off before Reuben Frank (headed to UConn) slammed him down for a 5-yard loss.

Rye coach Dino Garr on the decision:

“We felt we could run some time off the clock and hopefully get a first down. A lot could go wrong on a punt. It could have gotten blocked or a bad snap or whatever. Do I second guess myself? No.”

Williams threw three straight incomplete passes — all overthrown with a Poughkeepsie receiver behind a leaping Rye defensive back — before the final play. With 8 seconds left at the Rye 49, Williams hit Graham on the left sideline about 20 yards downfield. Graham slipped through two defenders and burst into the end zone as the clock went down to 0:00.

Mayhem on one sideline. Total devastation on the other.

It’s hard to really describe the scene. As I looked out from the Rye sideline, I never would have known anybody was standing behind me. It was the quiested a thousand people could possibly be.

What will forever stick out in my mind was looking at the Poughkeepsie players’ faces after they shook hands. Three out of every five players was sobbing crying. The other two were choking back tears.

Barger’s take on the final play:

“We were trying to isolate Josh all game. The quarterback made a great throw and I was screaming ‘Get out of bounds. Get out of bounds. I guess it’s plays like that that make you look good as a coach. It was a special game.”

Garr didn’t have much nice things to say about the officiating. Rye, a team that rarely commits penalties, was flagged six times for 59 yards.

“I can’t be happy with the officiating,” Garr said he was smacked his hand down the table in his office after the game. He then turned to me: “Did you watch the game? Did you?”

Garr added: “Throughout this whole stretch, I always thought these last (seven) years that if we were going to lose, we’d lose it on the field. I don’t think we did.”

Graham was penalized for leaving the line too soon three times. But, I can tell you with my own eyes that he didn’t a whole lot more and got away with it.

Did he do it on the last play? It’s not impossible. I have to see the tape.

Overall, this was as memorable a football game as I’ve ever seen. It will be aired on MSG this weekend. I’ll post the date and time when I get it.

It’s a must watch.

We’ll be airing the Poughkeepsie vs. Rye semifinal in the Class A playoffs tonight on lohud.com/vcsports1. You can click here to watch or go right to the address. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

(Please be patient with the video. The wireless at Rye isn’t great and it tends to stop and start often.)

White Plains at New Rochelle will be aired tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. on the same channel.

As we prepare for the Section 1 semifinals, I had a feature in today’s Journal News pinpointing who will be the most important player(s) in each game this weekend.

I called them the ‘X-factors’ and highlighted the non-quarterbacks and non-running backs who play vital roles. You can check them out by clicking here.

We also had a preview of every game scheduled this weekend, which you can read here.

There were a couple of games yesterday — Edgemont topped Ardsley 27-8 and Tappan Zee hosted Beacon.

Beautiful day and should be a nice weekend. Going to play some golf. Back later.

Here are my picks for this weekend, playoff and non-playoffs:

Class AA
New Rochelle 35, White Plains 13: Having watched the first New Rochelle-White Plains game three weeks, I can’t see this one being much of a contest. New Rochelle is just too good. The Tigers caught a lot of breaks in the first three quarters the last time and still lost the game 28-7. New Rochelle is due for things to break its way and will take full advantage.
Arlington 21, North Rockland 17: As superb as the North Rockland has been defensively this season, the Admirals have come too far to get knocked off now. They avenged their only loss by rallying to beat Carmel, a game that proved they have the mental toughness to compete with the elite. The Red Raiders skated by last week after a slow start. Arlington won’t let them do it again.

Class A
Rye 34, Poughkeepsie 21: This might be a little too high scoring, especially since it’s allowed 16 points in its last four games. The Garnets, though, will likely combat Poughkeepsie’s aggressive defense front by going for quick passes. Look for Connor Eck to connect with Brian Pickup and Jack O’Callaghan for a few big plays, and for Cole McCormack to wear down the Pioneers.
Roosevelt 32, Lakeland 20: Again, that’s a lot of points for a playoff game, especially one played on a dirt field in the rain. Although Lakeland shut down Fox Lane’s potent offense last week, the Hornets haven’t seen a team with nearly the speed and versatility as Roosevelt. The Indians will get out in space and run their way into the championship.

Class B
Nanuet 28, Kennedy 14: The Gaels might be the only team in the conference that can physically match up with Nanuet. As I said on tonight’s VC Chat, the Golden Knights deal a physical beating on everyone they play. Kennedy will hang in there. But I don’t see the depth needed to beat this Nanuet team.
Pleasantville 27, Sleepy Hollow 20: Yes, I know I picked Sleepy before the postseason began. But the combination of Pleasantville soaring past Loudes and Sleepy slipping past Irvington changed my mind. Don’t be shocked if the Horsemen find a way. But the lack of consistency is alarming.

Class C
Bronxville 28, Hastings 20: As long as Luke D’Allesandro is healthy and able to play, the Yellow Jackets will hang around in this game. Hastings is unlike any team Bronxville has faced and matches up its size well enough not to get pushed around. All the pressure is on Bronxville.
Croton-Harmon 28, Dobbs Ferry 22: Expect a closer game than you might think. Dobbs Ferry, behind fullback Devonte Brailsford, is on a roll after gaining confidence the last three weeks. Croton, too, has found a good rhythm offensively as Tyler Dorien has caught fire. The Tigers’ size and depth will be the difference.

Non-playoff games
Edgemont 28, Ardsley 12
Beacon 14, Tappan Zee 13
Valhalla 21, Woodlands 6
Somers 24, Nyack 13
Clarkstown North 20, Ramapo 13
St. Luke’s 22, Hackley 18
Brewster 27, Pearl River 12
Clarkstown South 35, Gorton 20
Spring Valley 21, Panas 20
Mamaroneck 21, Lincoln 14
Port Chester 28, Hen Hud 13
Blind Brook 14, Pawling 7
Ketcham 24, Mahopac 21
Horace Greeley 20, Eastchester 14
Dover 16, Yonkers 6
Albertus Magnus 33, Lincoln Hall 13
John Jay-EF 28, Suffern 20
Rye Neck 29, Putnam Valley 22
John Jay 31, Scarsdale 21
Carmel 29, Mount Vernon 14
Byram Hills 14, Westlake 12
Lourdes 21, Irvington 16
Briarcliff 28, Pelham 26
Harrison 21, Yorktown 14
Iona Prep 35, Farrell 21
Holy Trinity 42, Fordham Prep 24
Stepinac 35, St. John’s the Baptist 6
KLHT 42, Rye Country Day 20
Sacred Heart 28, South Kent 7

The Player and Coach of the Week awards were handed out on tonight’s edition of Varsity Central Chat. You can watch a replay of the show (which I thought was pretty good) by clicking here. The honorees:

Player of the Week
Mike Fraioli, Lakeland: A Hornets player gets the top honors for the second week in a row. Last week, Conor Prunty got the accolades for carrying Lakeland past Yorktown and into the Class A playoffs. Fraioli was the workhorse in the upset win over Fox Lane. He carried the ball 36 times for 168 yards and a touchdown and a force at middle linebacker at the high-powered Foxes were shutout, 24-0. Fraioli took quite a beating with his 36 carries. But he helped move the chains and keep the Fox Lane offense off the field, which was just as important as any tackling the Hornets did all night.

Coach of the Week
Mike O’Donnell, Stepinac: What was supposed to be the biggest test of Stepinac’s regular season was just another rout in a remarkable season. The Crusaders are perhaps the most confident team in the area after dominating Cardinal Hayes 44-19 in a CHSFL matchup. O’Donnell has as explosive an offense of any in the area and a defense that’s averaging four sacks, three takeaways and allowed the fewest points (60) in the CHSFL.

Awards given out this season:

Player of the Week
Week 1: Mark White, Woodlands
Week 2: Bronxville’s offensive line
Week 3: Dillon Addonizio, Mahopac
Week 4: Timmy Muller, Fox Lane
Week 5: Gabe Ostrow, Nanuet
Week 6: Conor Prunty, Lakeland
Week 7: Mike Fraioli, Lakeland

Coach of the Week
Week 1: Phil Treglia, Woodlands
Week 2: Bill Delaney, Suffern
Week 3: Fred DiCarlo, Eastchester
Week 4: Art Troilo, Harrison
Week 5: Harry Peterson, Mamaroneck
Week 6: Pat Costabile, Irvington
Week 7: Mike O’Donnell, Stepinac

I’m really sorry for not posting this sooner. It’s one of the best football photos I’ve ever seen.

It’s Tom Hanney of Nanuet, who was caked in mud during Saturday’s Nanuet-Briarcliff game. Hanney, the star quarterback, must have been driven into the ground on a play. I’m not sure if he was even wearing his helmet at the time.

You can go to the Gameday Central blog by clicking here and vote for this as the Gameface of the Week. There are a few other football pictures there, too.

We don’t have any special guests but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out tonight’s edition of Varsity Central Chat — Playoff Edition.

The show starts at 7 p.m. and can be seen at lohud.com/vclive or by clicking here.

I’ll be handing out the Player and Coach of the Week recipients (not many guesses so far, huh?) and be answering your questions live.

The show will go as long as you want it to. Obviously, there’s World Series Game 1 to contend with. But I imagine there will be a rain delay (or worse) so I can go the normal amount of time.

If you can’t tune in but have a question, please feel free to post it here.

The next four Game Balls are here. Be sure to check out tonight’s edition of Varsity Central Chat to find out the Player and Coach of the Week at 7 p.m. You can watch by clicking here.

5. Dave Thomas and Donovan Walker, Roosevelt: As hard as I tried last night, I couldn’t think of another tandem this decade that’s accomplished what these have this season. Ray Rice and Courtney Greene, obviously, were more talented. But they had superstars around them. Thomas and Walker are two players on a team of 18 yet have guided the Indians to within a game of the Section 1 championships. What they did in Friday’s 41-20 win at Ossining was remarkable. Thomas ran for 190 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries, and Walker threw for 190 yards on 11-of-18 passing with two touchdowns, both to Adrien Pritchett. Walker also rushed for 89 yards on 17 attempts. Oh, and both were fantastic on defense. Walker was probably better on that side of the ball. These two are special.
4. L.J. Garrant, Sleepy Hollow: There might not be a better returnman around than Garrant, who’s the Devin Hester of Section 1. Garrant did it again in Saturday’s 13-12 win over Irvington in a Class B quarterfinal. After running for a touchdown in the first half, Garrant put the Horsemen ahead in the third quarter with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after the Bulldogs retook the lead. Garrant has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns — against Nanuet, Kennedy and now Irvington. He also caught the winning touchdown in the final seconds to beat Kennedy two weeks ago.
3. Angelo Williams, North Rockland: The numbers don’t seem like much. But the way Williams ran on Sunday, both with the ball and without it, lifted the Red Raiders into the Class AA semifinals. With Sal Sulla injured and limited on carries, Williams rushed for two touchdowns and only 56 yards on 13 carries. But he muscled his way for several crucial first downs in the 14-7 comeback win over John Jay-EF. He broke three tackles on a pinball 32-yard touchdown run to tie the game in the third. He then earned two first downs in the final minutes to set up his game-winning 1-yard score with 24 seconds left. Defensively, Williams was the difference at defensive end, breaking through Jay’s line and coming up with three vital tackles-for-loss in the second half as the Patriots managed just 29 yards and one first down.
2. Poughkeepsie’s entire defense. To take down Somers, the Pioneers needed contributions from everywhere on defense, so I couldn’t choose just one player to single out. Somers came into the game averaging 39 points and was known for wearing down teams by piling up first downs and chewing the clock. Poughkeepsie might not have stopped the Tuskers, but they did enought to contain them in the dramatic 14-10 victory. Jaquawne Simpkins had 17 tackles. Reuben Frank, Dijon Davidson and Jovan Wilkens each had nine, and Brandon Graham had an interception and a sack.

Again, the Player and Coach of the Week will be announced on tonight’s Varsity Central Chat.

Yes, finally, here are the Game Balls. These are the first five, followed by the next four tomorrow and the Player and Coach of the Week on Wednesday’s edition of Varsity Central Chat. You can watch it by clicking here.

Honorable mention: Justin Ciero, Horace Greeley; Joseph Hoffman, Edgemont; Matt Fedro, Yorktown; Cole McCormack, Rye; P.J. Castrocucco, Tuckahoe; Connor Eck, Rye; Adam Rannellone, Westlake; Sam Connett, Dobbs Ferry; Michael Seminario, Fordham Prep; Matt Wheeler, Scarsdale; Joe Telesco, Stepinac; Nolan Robinson, Pleasantville; Mike Nader, Eastchester; Luca Cobucci, Hastings; Darrick Hunter, Arlington; Daryl Shuler, White Plains; Tanner Knox, Harrison; Max Kinder, Fordham Prep.

10. Nkemjika Ogbuagu, Lincoln: The best performance from non-playoff games belongs to Ogbuago. The senior running back carried Lincoln in the fourth quarter to a 20-12 comeback win over Yonkers-city rival Gorton. Ogbuagu rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. Gorton led the game 12-0 after the first quarter before Ogbuagu cut into the deficit with a 2-yard score in the second. He then broke touchdown runs of 40 and 35 yards in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback.
9. Jack O’Callaghan, Rye: The numbers O’Callaghan put up in Friday’s 34-7 win over Nyack don’t sound like much — three receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown. But numbers don’t really indicate just what the junior receiver/safety means to the Garnets. O’Callaghan’s touchdown came late in the second quarter to break the game open. He was also superb in the secondary on a night where Rye loaded up with eight players in the box. It showed the trust they have in O’Callaghan to patrol the middle of the defense. He’s lead the leader of the unit.
8. Tyler Dorien, Croton-Harmon: Since losing to Bronxville three weeks ago, few quarterbacks have been quite as good as Dorien. In Saturday’s 34-0 semifinal win over Rye Neck, Dorien threw for 70 yards on 8-of-10 passing and two touchdowns, and rushed for 111 yards and two scores. Over the last three games, check out these stats: 13 for 17 passing for 278 yards, six TDs and no interceptions; 34 carries for 341 yards (10 avg.) and five touchdowns.
7. Marc Palmer and David O’Dell, Kennedy: The Gaels have won the area’s most active middle linebackers in the area in Palmer, who controlled the middle of the field. And anything he didn’t clean up on defense, O’Dell was there to take care of it. These two were seemingly in on every tackle as Kennedy downed Pelham 34-0 in a Class B quarterfinal. Palmer had 14 tackles and O’Dell had six. O’Dell also rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns as Pelham’s defense geared up to stop Dylan Schuck.
6. R.J. Krauss, Carmel: It takes a lot of a player from the losing team to get notice here. But Krauss was that good in Friday’s 31-27 defeat to Arlington the Class AA quarterfinals. Krauss rushed for 273 yards and three touchdown on just 16 attempts. Krauss had three runs over 40 yards and carried the Rams to an 11-point lead late in the fourth quarter that Carmel couldn’t hold.

The rest of the Game Balls will be posted shortly.

This will be kind of brief since I already went so in-depth on Friday’s games. Just a quick look back of the playoff games.

Don’t worry, I’m not ignoring the non-playoff games completely. I will highlight many of those in this week’s Game Balls, which I’ll post tonight:

Class AA
New Rochelle 38, Mount Vernon 0: This is the game the Huguenots are known for — where they take off from the rest of the pack.

They had their ups-and-downs this season and nearly lost last week to John Jay-EF. But once the playoffs begin, this team annually goes to another level. Are they unbeatable? Absolutely not. But there’s certainly a larger gap after this game than maybe anybody anticipated when the playoffs started the day before.

New Rochelle gets another rematch this week with White Plains. Don’t be shocked if, like Mount Vernon, the score from the second game is a little more lopsided than the first.

North Rockland 14, John Jay-EF 7: It’s amazing what a good defense can do for you.

The Red Raiders were getting pushed around up front in the first half of this game before a key adjustment (North Rockland slanted its defensive ends to cut off Jay’s pulling guards) and some added pride can do for you. The Red Raiders ate up Jay’s line in the second, on both sides of the ball, and held the Patriots to 29 total yards and one first down.

Angelo Williams had both touchdowns in the second half and was exceptionally defensively at end. He broke through several times and made tackles in the backfield on plays that went for 3-4 yards in the first half.

Jay has to be second-guessing its decision to punt on third down there in the fourth quarter. With the game tied 7-7, it “quick-kicked” twice — once on its 7 on third-and-long and the other on its 5 with third-and-9. The “quick kick” is when you snap the ball, pitch it to the running back and let him punt it so there will be no return. The second kick went only 15 yards, setting up North Rockland’s winning score with 24 seconds left.

The decision, though, was puzzling to me. Obviously, field position is important and you’d have to assume Jay would be satisfied to get to overtime with the way it was unable to move the ball. But isn’t time just as valuable as yardage? If Jay ran two extra plays, it would either force North Rockland to use timeouts or burn a minute off the clock. North Rockland instead had all its timeouts on the final drive. And the touchdown came with 24 seconds left.

Class B
Nanuet 41, Briarcliff 7: The game was actually close for a while before the Golden Knights broke it open in the second half.

Tom Hanney and Gabe Ostrow each ran well and Nanuet’s offensive line controlled the game in the second half. Ostrow scored three touchdowns.

Saturday’s rain was probably a welcome sight for Nanuet, which was facing a Briarcliff team that likes to put the ball in the air. The Bears did anyway but threw three interceptions.

Sleepy Hollow 13, Irvington 12: This one kind of threw me for a loop. Just when I thought Sleepy Hollow was ready to take off, it needed a kickoff return for a touchdown to go ahead of an Irvington team that was four yards away from pulling another upset.

The Bulldogs drove to the Sleepy 4 in the closing seconds but ran out of time. George Beringer made the game-saving tackle for the Headless Horsemen, who’ve won three in a row. Sleepy now travels to take on Pleasantville.

Irvington has nothing to be ashamed of with this one. Six days earlier it pulled off one of the biggest wins for the program this decade, coming back in the final seconds to beat Briarcliff and earn a playoff berth. And to be this close to beating Sleepy is a significant accomplishment.

Pleasantville 38, Lourdes 23: Nolan Robinson had another stellar passing effort, throwing for 209 yards and four touchdowns.

Take away the Nanuet game, where Robinson completed just 7 of 26 passes in the howling wind, and the senior has had a remarkable season throwing the ball. In the six games besides Nanuet, Robinson has completed 54-percent of his passes, is averaging 147 yards per game and has 14 touchdowns.

If Pleasantville can get by a Sleepy Hollow team that will surely get pressure on Robinson, it will likely face Nanuet in the championship. Not that you want to think that far ahead, but can the Golden Knights duplicate the defensive effort they put up in the first meeting with Pleasantville? That might be a lot to ask.

Kennedy 34, Pelham 0: Perhaps it was because the game was so one-sided, but I left this game really impressed with Kennedy.

Before the game started Pelham coach Dave Moskowitz made the statement: “Watching this team on tape, I’ll tell you that it’s not just Schuck.” Those words were prophetic.

Dylan Schuck ran well, but so did David “Boomer” O’Dell, who had a pair of touchdowns. Pelham was clearly keying on Schuck, Kennedy’s star tailback, which left the lanes open for O’Dell. He ran hard and was able to lower his shoulder a few times and plow into defenders.

Both were superb defensively, as well Marc Palmer, who was as good as advertised at middle linebacker. Tough, strong, fast and able to cover both sides of the field. A very good player.

Against Nanuet, Kennedy will need to get more out of Tyler Trodden, its quarterback. In the three passes Trodden threw, I saw he had great composure and could sling it a little. The Gaels barely called on him against Pelham. They’ll need him this Saturday.

Class C
Croton-Harmon 34, Rye Neck 0: Another game where Rye Neck finds a way to hang around early, but Tyler Dorien plays his best late.

Croton’s quarterback was fantastic game, throwing for 70 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 111 yards and two scores. Joe Tralli and Matt Tralli each caught touchdowns, and the rushing attack got by without injured Tyler Keppler and Kevin Soares. Keppler should return Saturday and, if Croton wins, Soares should be ready for the final.

Bobby Dusconi and Kyle Riccardi are healthy on the offensive line and at linebacker. And Dorien has quietly had the best running/passing stretch of any quarterback in the area since losing to Bronxville three weeks ago.

Croton-Harmon is contently laying in the weeds why the planet falls in love with Bronxville’s size and depth. Don’t count this team out just yet.

Bronxville 41, Lincoln Hall 12: No shock here. Lincoln Hall is definitely an improving program. But it just not ready to take on a team as big and disciplined as Bronxville.

Jack Near returned to play a little quarterback for undefeated Bronxville, completing its roster for the first time all season. Dillon Mitchell still took the majority of snaps and has done a fine job filling in. But if Near can return to even close to being the player he was before getting injured at Dobbs Ferry, forget it. Nobody is touching this team on this half of the state.

Take arguably the section’s best line and put it in front of Near at quarterback, with Brian Murray and Liam Berney mixing up the carries in the first three quarters and then Mitchell, who’s a bull, coming in to put the game away in the fourth. It’s a pretty nice formula.

Dobbs Ferry 46, Putnam Valley 22: Another huge day by Devonte Brailsford gets the Eagles back to the Class C semifinals for the second year in a row!

That enthusiasm was a joke, of course, considering Dobbs won seven straight titles and pretty much considered the state tournament apart of their season on an annual basis. I know the scores. But it’s so astounding that people are dismissing the Eagles as contenders. I would be a little cautious of that, especially the way they’ve put the ball in the endzone of late.

In their two losses to Bronxville and Hastings, they were sputtering offensively and never got into the a flow. But I’ll attest that you can be smaller and thinner than your opponent as still win. All you have to do is be confident and cohesive and good things will happen. Dobbs Ferry is that right now.

Hastings 39, Albertus Magnus 23: The Yelow Jackets won their sixth straight as Luca Cobucci threw for 169 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a score.

I didn’t think Albertus would be able to stop Hastings enough and it didn’t. Hastings had 19 points in the second quarter and scored first in the third to get ahead by a healthy margin.

Hastings moves on and now has the most unenviable of tasks: facing Bronxville on the road. Hey, if you’re Hastings, you’d have to beat Bronxville at some point. Perhaps it’s better now before the championship with slightly less pressure and coming off a game where Bronxville was barely tested and you put up 39 points.

The Yellow Jackets have momentum right now. Combine the fact Bronxville hasn’t faced a team like them all season and you have to give Hastings a fighting chance in this one.

Back with Game Balls later.

When big issues arise in football, I’m often blamed for fanning the flames. I’m sure I’ll be accused of it now, too.

I wanted to offer my opinion on the comments Tony DeMatteo made after Somers’ loss to Poughkeepsie on Friday night. Here’s the background: the Tuskers had been lambasted all season for being undefeated against what’s perceived to be a weak schedule. I spoke to DeMatteo this week for a story I wrote in Friday’s Journal News, which led with him making a tongue-in-cheek remark about how the critics think his team “isn’t any good.”

After Friday’s 14-10 loss to Poughkeepsie in the playoffs, DeMatteo was interviewed by Journal News reporter Josh Thomson for his story, and DeMatteo made this statement:

“We stink, so I guess they stink, too. They were a little better than us, so I guess they have no chance ahead in the playoffs. I’ve been told for the last six weeks that we’re no good.”

What DeMatteo said definitely raised my eyebrows. However, anybody who thinks he was intentionally trying to denegrate Poughkeepsie is misinterpretting the tone in DeMatteo’s voice.

DeMatteo has a style of sarcasm that, if you aren’t siting directly across from him, you won’t totally understand. Sometimes what he says doesn’t come out the same in print as it does in conversation.

To me, DeMatteo wasn’t putting down Poughkeepsie. He was actually putting down you, the bloggers, saying you basically don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to evaluating his team, or any team.

I agree, DeMatteo should have known better than to even attempt to be sarcastic. No matter how he explained himself, what he said would be taken in many different ways.

Today, I emailed Poughkeepsie coach Ken Barger. Before I wrote anything, I wanted to speak to him and get his take. Here’s what Barger wrote back:

Just so everyone can understand, Coach DeMatteo shook all of our players hands, talked to all of our coaches and then made time to talk to a few of our players separately.  He told me congratulations, we have a great team, and to go on and win it all.  At no time was he anything but gracious.  When I got a chance to read the article I took ZERO offense to it….. none period!  I know what he said to my players after the game and I am honored that he felt the way he did.  I don’t feel like he was being sarcastic about our team at all.  We were honored to make the playoffs and play in an awesome football game against a great team.  The Somers program from the AD right down to the people holding the chains were first class!  I hope this can help maybe clear up some of the stuff that has been going on since the end of our playoff game.

Hopefully this clears up the situation. As I said, if I were DeMatteo I wouldn’t have bothered with the attempt at sarcasm. I can promise you that he didn’t intend to insult the Poughkeepsie.

If the people he supposedly offended, aren’t bothered, why should anybody else?