Game Balls: Nos. 5-2
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- October
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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.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 12:17 pm by Kevin Devaney Jr..
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Kev. Check out the WR # 17 from Pleasantville. I don’t know if you’ve covered this kid yet but he’s legit. And, he’s a better kicker/ punter the WR. Also, where’s the love for Sacred Heart. That program has been rebuilt and they are doing well. There defensive tackle Danny Linares might be the best in Sec. 1 at 6’4 275. Don’t wait to long to jump on that band wagon Kev.
I wonder how many players on Gorton are getting scholarships from playing on Coach D’s team and all his hookups!!!????
The Valhalla football program chose this year to play in the developmental league with other schools that are trying to rebuild their programs and still field varsity teams. Valhalla has been the most successful of these teams with a 6-1 record, their only loss coming to Bronxville. While everybody has read about many of the great and deserving players from around the section, three of Valhalla’s finest have gone unnoticed. Ernest Givins leads the team in rushing, Dan Annunziata leads the team in recieveing, and John Meaney playing full back,QB, and Middle linebacker has been the teams and the leagues MVP, he deserves the recognition, he would be an all-league and all section player for any team in Westchester. With Annunziata and Meaney being only juniors the future is bright, Coach Nucaro and his staff have done an outstanding job enstilling the attitude that this team plays with week in and week out.
I know Garrants father pretty well. He played with Kimani Effort, Israel Echi in the early 90s. A great man , I have no doubt that his son is a great kid as well as a player.
Good to see Valhalla back playin. I used to play at Rumbrook with the kids from the state title team, Carpendito and them.They were very good athletes
Yeah these two Roosevelt kids are tough as they displayed in the Rye game. Very explosive. This is a dangerous team, particularly on O. If they step up their D, I think Lakeland is in trouble.
Sorry, the young mans name from Valhalla was Ernest Curtis , not Ernest Givins (he was the WR for the Titans)
the two Roosevelt guys are talented. I just chuckled when you called them kids. does anyone know how old Thomas is really. I’ve heard anywhere from 18 to 20. I can’t believe 20. Maybe 18 or 19?
How is that Yonkers HS team doing? That development league must be real challenging. Way more challenging than Section 1 AA.
It is great those adults over there know what is best for kids especially when they blocked the one kid from playing at Gorton and made him go back to Yonkers…...hahahahahhahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike Hoops, if you want that Gorton coaching job so bad, real simple, just apply.
go eagles, dont you know that they are a semi – college team.
Yonkers High School isn’t a 1AA team
if they weren’t in the Developmental league they would be classified as Class A, and probably would be in the South League. That would actually keep everything even, and would make it an even number in all the A leagues…but since they haven’t been in the section in what seems like forever, the freelance schedule was hit or miss…I think the D-league helps out, out of the six teams Valhalla looks like it should be in the actual playoffs, two teams are about .500, and the other three are still building…
So Yonkers High-as in the name Yonkers not just any Yonkers-is A like Saunders and Roosevelt, the other two be in AA.
I have not seen Arlington play. And Coach Lynch, the D-Coordinator for NOrth Rock, does not need any help, especially mine, but here is my half a$$, coach wannabe blogger scouting report on what North Rock should do against Arlington Offense:
On offense, one of the things Arlington will look for, is the short passes as I have previosuly stated. Also my guess is they will throw several different formations to get North Rock defense unbalanced to the weak side. Arlington will over a load a side and run trap and definitely counter back towards the weak side. Looking for that home run TD play. You can also count on a few semi roll outs with a throw back, again trying to catch to North Rock D off guard.
What should North Rock do:
North Rock’s best bet, back the line backers to 4.5 to 5 yards(like I previously stated)so they easily get back to their drops, 10 to 12 yard curls. That should help negate the short passing game. Any passes underneath 10 to 12 yards now the WR can be punished by some line backers. I will assume we will see some d-line slants. What North Rock might want to add in is shifting the d-line during the QB’s cadence call. Can throw a wrench in some Arlington’s play calls that might take place at the line of scrimmage.
When Arlington over loads a side with a formation, make sure your back side is balanced to the number of o-line man on the weak side. One of the safeties should be cheated to the weak side as well.
Though there should be blitzes, North Rock should not go crazy. They need to stay in at least two deep since the passing games is their crutch. North Rock is good enough to stop Arlington’s run in their base defense. Their base defense with two deep should give them balance to defend the pass as well. Of course the 2 deep coverage does not have to be done with two safeties. The coverage can be rolled to have a safety and corner having deep halves.
Above is a complete guess. Just the feeling I got after watching North Rock Sunday.
HSFB Guy,
to clarify, I stated Yonker HS is in the devlopemental league.
Going back some time ago a certain blogger above thought it was a GREAT idea to stop a high school kid from going to Gorton( Section AA) and forcing the kid back to Yonkers High (developmental league) to play football. When I said Gorton was the better choice for football, this un named blogger said disparraging comments about Gorton and more specifically their head coach.
I for one thought the kid should be allowed since bloggers were saying many kids seem to jump from school to school in Yonkers. The adults in Yonkers decided for this ONE KID, they were going to enforce the rules. From what was being said the rule had not been enforced before, and probably will not be enforced again.
go eagles and four inches
if the 2 players from yonkers are 18 or 19 why do you care how old they are they legally able to play. they are not breaking any rules they just playing at the maximum the state allows a high school kid to play. if you did any research you would know that in florida and texas most of the kids on a average are 19 or is turning 19. most college prefer the older kid because his body is more develop alot of kids are being held back that one year in middle or high school because they realize that the kid will a better player at 19 then at 17 and really it’s nothing wrong with that. really tell me what damage is it really doing? i think it’s more jealousy than anything that you are spewing.
so get off those kids back with wise cracks and jokes because it make you sound stupid.
are you crazy!!! First of all you spelled “crazy” wrong. So maybe you should’ve stayed back a year.If you were left back that many times then you should be exempt to play High School Sports. Texas and where else you mentioned is there problem. We are talking about New York here. There should be a rule, because if one kid can spend the best times of his life dominating younger kids on the football field, then there will be alot more kids doing it. Thats kind of cheating the system and themselves.You never know some kid say, Im staying back on purpose because I can and dominate next year. There should be an ruling on that. Kevin???
Hey dopey,
Last time I checked it was “fourth”..not “forth”..perhaps some extra schooling would help you as well
Well so long as we win right. It doesn’t matter if a “kid” stays back an extra year. Try explaining that one away at a job interview
are you crayz
I won’t speak for Roosevelt, but what’s mostly “wrong” with that (referring to Texas and Florida) is that it makes a mockery of the educational system. So let’s have these kids just focus on football; it’s OK to just get left back for this purpose. I suppose it’s also a great thing for colleges to see the value in this, as so many of these kids are recruited for football, and either do not graduate or do so with a degree in Underwater Sanskrit. It’s OK, though, because the overwhelming majority can depend on a career in the pros, right?
Not trying to burst your bubble concerning the fine performances by several Valhalla players but before you start putting them up for all kinds of league and section awards, consider their competition. Being the best of a poor lot hardly qualifies one for all league or all section kudos. Valhalla was shut out rather easily by a Bronxville team that had 13 senior starters not even playing. This is not a knock at all on the developmental league because it is something that’s good and gives teams like Valhalla a competitive place to play wihout getting their doors blown in every week but as soon as that happens and a team does well against weak competition, certain people start to think they are better than they actually are and want to start handing out awards. The reality is that if Valhalla had been in the regular playoffs this past week they would have had their clocks cleaned and again that’s not to disparage them at all but please see things for what they are and not what you wish them to be.
I only said that John Meaney would be an all-league player for many other teams in Westchester and the other two kids had good seasons. Valhalla was the best of a lot of schools that are working to get better. I never said that they could compete with play-off teams. Just trying to givee some kids credit for the work they put in. Valhalla will get their due in about two weeks when basketball season starts, they are clearly the best team in Class C when it comes to hoops. Lighten up
Valhalla is still a terrible football team. I watched their pre season scrimmage and they got ran all over by Croton Harmon. They didnt move the ball a yard against Rye Country Day in about 15 plays. Even Tappan Zee spanked them.
Again, and this is not to disparage Valhalla, the developmental league or the kids involved but they don’t get covered and their stats are really unimportant because of the level of competition. It would be like including JV stats. Valhalla played one good team and did nothing againnst them; they were shut out. If they had Croton, Dobbs, Magnus, and Hastings on their schedules they also would have done nothing and no one would be making the point about what great seasons were had by those players. Point being, that’s why they don’t get much coverage. In the regular class they would have been 0-6 or 1-5 and you would be lamenting what a bad season they had but that’s why the developmental league is good. Gives weak or rebuilding programs a place to play competitive football but you can’t then decide to throw those players and their stats into the regular mix and have it both ways.
Didnt valhalla win a state championship back in the day.
1996 State champs
Not trying to say their stats should be included with the rest. I admit if the played the schedule that you mentioned, their record could be 1-7 instead of 7-1. But I have watched enough H.S. football to know that John Meaney would be a strong player on ANY team in class c. By the way read tomorrows Journal News to see the coverage. Rick Carpinello was at tonights Valhalla game and did a story not just about the game, but also the background of the league. Don’t tell me because these teams are not as telented that they don’t work hard in practice everyday or come to play hard everygame. By the way Valhalla by enrollment is a Class C school across the board in every sport. The four teams in the Class C Semi’s are Class B in every other sport but football. So the playing field is not so even, The A final will most likely be between P’Keepsie nd Roosevelt two schools that play AA in every other sport. Wait until basketball season Valhalla won’t let you down.
Bronxville has approx 100 students per HS grade. They are, in fact, closer to being a D school than a B school by enrollment so please get your facts straight. The fact that a school this size is competing for section championships in Field hockey, girls soccer, and football, not to mention the boys soccer who won the B state championship last year is nothing short of amazing.
YOU ARE WRONG.