Kennedy Catholic played host to a fall afternoon football game against Westlake, at Kennedy Catholic in Somers. Westlake came away the winner, defeating Kennedy 34-27.
Westlake’s Matt Debiase (44) finds some running room against Kennedy, during football game at Kennedy Catholic in Somers Sept. 25, 2010. ( Frank Becerra Jr / The Journal News )
To see more photos from the Kennedy vs Westlake game click here.
35 Comments
Was at this one and bout those kids in the pic 44 from west lake and 22 from jfk are studes. Watch out For them wildcats
Westlake is both the most improved and surprise team in section B. Croton is team to beat but it is about time that Westlake gets some respect. Maybe they scored 34 on Kennedy because they have a good offense not that Kennedy D is bad, remember two weeks ago Kennedy shut out Pleasantville. Maybe Edgemont started 0-2 losing to Croton and Westlake becuase they played the best two teams in their division not because they are weak.
Westlake is a well coached balanced team. They have a strong line with good backs as evidenced by two different backs going for over 150 yards in last two weeks. They have a good QB with strong arm who gets time to throw to a couple of talented respect.
They might not win the section but Westlake will be a tough out who should be recognized for winning based on their merits not just their opponents perceived shortcomings.
Had a mistake in original note:
Westlake is both the most improved and surprise team in section B. Croton is team to beat but it is about time that Westlake gets some respect. Maybe they scored 34 on Kennedy because they have a good offense not that Kennedy D is bad, remember two weeks ago Kennedy shut out Pleasantville. Maybe Edgemont started 0-2 losing to Croton and Westlake becuase they played the best two teams in their division not because they are weak.
Westlake is a well coached balanced team. They have a strong line with good backs as evidenced by two different backs going for over 150 yards in last two weeks. They have a good QB with strong arm who gets time to throw to a couple of talented RECEIVERS
They might not win the section but Westlake will be a tough out who should be recognized for winning based on their merits not just their opponents perceived shortcomings.
99, 04, 08. Those three years Westlake had amazing records and made it to the Class C section championships, only to lose to Edgemont’s Dynasty, Dobbs Ferry’s Dynasty, and a Croton team that made it to states.
Throw in some strong years in 00, 02 and 07 that saw them go late in the playoffs, and the only losing seasons were 01, 03, 09, Westlake always had respect. Whether it be Class C, or B, Westlake has done well in both, and with a wide open B this year, or so it seems, about 8 teams still have hopes after 3 weeks of going to the finals.
They finally have a constant coach; not changing head coaches and a qb every single year lead to some poor results. Donofrio can throw, finally a strong arm under center. The stable of strong running backs continues in the Debiase family. Westlake always had great runners, throw in a passing game and the offense can take it to the next level.
Defensively, they have always had strong points and bad points, good years and bad years. This season the defense has ended two game winning drives and held a JFK team in check that was poised to make the game into a Track Meet with the sprinters running all over the field.
Pleasantville will always be a challenge; the cross town rival is NOT homecoming this year, surprised for once that it is not. But Pville and Westlake have that rivalry and hatred that sometimes leaks out, considering other sports teams are merged with each other. After Pville, Croton will be a challenge, perhaps for the League Title and top seed in the League for playoffs.
But starting off this strong after a tough season last year is exactly what needed to be done. I’m Excited and expecting big things from the ‘Cats this season.
I agree with most of what HSFB is saying , the westlake offense is well balanced . This i will say this is a very weak b class this year, pleasantville 6 pts in three games briarcliff cant rush for a yard . The JFK game was very good , to coach schwartz 4th and 3 from the westlake 43 you cant punt, not in high school and you were down 7-0 also 4th down from the westlake 2 you call a reverse in the future get rid of that from there. Its good to see westlake playing well and it seems certain now it will be croton and westlake for league. This i will say the defense and punt and kickoff coverage is very poor if they play defense against croton like they did at JFK they will get beat no question . So to the defensive coach you must shore up that right side defense good luck guys !
I ageed with most of your observations, but they didnt stop JFK at all . They ran there backs wild against westlake thats why if they play that way against croton they will lose. Crotons defense is better than any of the 3 teams they faced .
Althoguh Croton is clearly team to beat and would be favored to beat Westlake, the thing to remember is that is was mid-August heat and humidity and as reported Westlake was down to 20 players with many players playing both ways while Kennedy with much larger roster was able to rotate fresh bodies in and out and Kennedy did most of their damage in 2nd half when Westlake guys were wilting under the heat. If weather was more seasonal, the Westlake D would not have been as worn down and would have made more stops. Remember the week before Kennedy scored three times against Croton so it was not like Croton pitched a shut-out agains the Gaels.
Im sorry but croton had second n third string in there and dont like the heat issue all im saying is the defense n special teams is a weakness while croton has givin up all of 18 points . I just dont see 08 defense no carters and company and that will be there downfall its just my opinion.
agreed with above
Your kinda wright about the wildcat D but you gotta remaber two of jfk tds came from turnovers inside the wildcats own 20. I will agree that they do need to tackle better.
All im saying is , very poor tackling and you must remember poor coaching decisions by the JFK coach reverse at the 2 weird . W hat i would worry about if i was westlake is that croton and other teams in the playoffs will have better defenses and offenses . I saw JFK stop themselves more than westlake doing it. Its just to bad WILL CARTER cant stop by westlake to teach these kids the right way to tackle . Its just shows you most of these boys were playing last year why 2-6
The same guys who coached Will up on tackling are coaching these kids. So what would Will do?
There were a lot of changes from last year’s 2-6 team. Many of the kids did not play a lot although on team. There were different feature backs last year and QB was a sophomore forced into action who is now much more experienced They have a senior transfer making an impact number, lot of seniors who play hard and they have some sophomores who have stepped up and been big contributors.
Will learned in modified and wrestling and these coaches better get busy crotons right around the corner this week is a breeze 34-6
I was at the game and i belive that kennedy’s db’s are definently to blame they let up two easy touchdowns which if they knew what they were doing would never have happened. Also there is some hope for the gaels in the two linebackers they had numbers 22, and 33. I mean these guys were big fast and strong and were making every single tackle on defense. number 22 runs like a monster on O and 33 return a kick for like 20 yards but not before laying the biggest hit i have ever seen on a kid and then throwing another kid down with one hand only to be pushed back and forced to stop due to an early whistle. However two kids cannot make a team especially with those coaches decision making. Also number five proved he is a legit threat running the ball i think the coaches should take out number 9 and 44 and put in 33 at full back and 22 and 5 as hb’s that would be a real running threat but thats just my opinion anyone else agree.
#33 was pretty solid but it doesnt seem like the Kennedy offense was the problem. They seemed to score almost at will and #44 had some nice runs down the stretch. Watching 33 on defense, it seemed that he was aggressive, but it also seemed like DeBiase (#44) on Westlake ran by him quite a few times (rushed for over 200yds) I guess we’ll have to see what happens , but everything should be fine…good luck to both teams moving forward
Kennedy is definetly going to turn it around. They just happened to play two games in a row against undefeated teams and still managed to score a bunch of points against them. The defense will be fine and the offense will continue to score points. Considering the fact that Kennedy is the only team to score against Croton so far this season, scoring 3 TD’s, and then laying 27 points on Westlake, and the fact that they shut out Pleasantville week 1 they will be fine. Changing players on the offense is pretty rediculous. If it aint broke why fix it? #44 and #9 are good players, and if im not mistaken, they both accounted for 2 of the 4 TD’s Kennedy scored. Coaches are doing a good job. Keep doing what your doing and good luck this weekend!
I agree JFK will get better and if they make the playoffs they could be trouble . Poor coaching decisions by JFK hurt them
Besides that reverse call i thought the coaches did a good job. Offense really moved the ball well and the defense seemed to be in the right calls just didnt make the plays. We will see what happens this weekend against edgemont
Why stop at Carter? There were other linebackers that played defense at Westlake that played ncaa. Matt Darby, Dan Smacchia are two names that stick out.
It wasn’t even poor tackling at that game. A few of the missed tackles were the result of the JFK runner running into his own blocker, causing a screen at times (by running into, I mean actual running into-you could hear the collision between two kennedy kids, yet the runner was able to shake off and keep his feet). JFK’s pure speed but undisciplined approach will have to take time to mature and learn. If these kids just want to run, step onto the six laned surface around the football field, I think they’d be amazing there as well.
The coach was clearly playing Madden 11 or NCAA 11 before the game. A reverse on the 2 yard line shot themselves in the foot completely. That play probably would have worked late in the 4th quarter instead of the off fake dive/sweep they tried to run that ended in nothing.
It was also JFK’s homecoming; most catholic schools have alumni day, and senior day, but not a traditional homecoming. I guess Section I has influenced Kennedy, and they were clearly not focused on the game completely. Any other game they would have probably just played football, instead of trying to keep in mind that this was homecoming weekend, and the festivities and music and decorations symbolized a party.
There DBs were about a foot too short. Westlake has tall receivers that can catch the ball over any person that has a height listed below 5’10, maybe more. They left matchups that gave Donofrio the chance to throw, and he did. The ground game was there, as the blocking made great lanes and allowed Debiase a chance to break a few.
Also the roster size of Westlake left the team drained and exhausted by the late second half. The fact it was well over 85 degrees in the sun for a Late September football game, with a small roster meaning people had to play offense, defense and special teams, left the ‘cats unable to put JFK away. The roster size of Kennedy allowed JFK to stay in the game until late.
And you can’t compare last year’s team to this year’s. Every season you must have a new attitude and approach; if you focus on the past you will stay there. This team retooled, healed up, and made changes. These changes brought energy, enthusiasm, and with a 0-0 slate in August, a chance at redemption.
Every year, as I first posted above in the thread, that Westlake had a bad year, they followed it up with a strong year. Last year was only one of three times they were below .500. The years in B AND C are about equal now, and they’ve shown they can do well and hang with the boys in both leagues, however C has fallen off and gotten weaker and smaller. B is a wide open shot, so let’s see how these teams do with 3 games left in the regular season.
Too many wannabe football analysts on this blog. Its 3 games into the season. A lot of football to still be played for both of these teams. Both teams have generally had success over the past 3 seasons. Kennedy has had one of the top offenses and defenses in all of section 1 over the past 3 years, and it was just 2 years ago that Westlake was competing for a section championship. Lets stop over ANALyzing who should be instructing tackling at Westlake, or one silly call by a coordinator when the team still put up huge numbers on offense, and have consistently done so for the a couple of years now. And now we are critiquing how kennedy should run their homecoming? Who are you, the second coming of Vince Lombardi?
wow, i cant believe people are still writing about this…lol
I’m just sayin Will’s modified coach are also still there
KENNEDYS DEFENSE LOOKS LOST
NO SCHEMING -NO ADJUSTMENTSYOU CANT WIN GIVING UP 80 POINTS IN TWO GAMES-OFFENSE DOES LOOK GOOD…REVERSE ON THE TWO ???kenedys defense—what defense??they play like they have 10 players on the field
Lets end this all im saying is if westlake tackles like this when they meet croton its lights out and by the way JFKs defense was horrible . Let me say this i dont care if you think im picking on the JFK coach 4th and 3 from the westlake 43 you go for it a no brainer and the reverse from the 2 its 2 decisions but there magnified in football not like baseball.
Football Analysts,
if you look at other posts, you see people talk about the big school programs way more than we are doing now.
Some of us work in both the catholic schools and the public schools, and coach on some sort of level in the schools. Simply put we are putting our knowledge in, if you don’t like it, go argue over about how Private Schools shouldn’t be talked about on the blogs, and how the CHSAA is ruining high school sports.
But it was a strong convo about both JFK and Westlake, hopefully JFK can rebound and Westlake can continue on the current roll.
HSFB Guy:
You know what, you are right…and to be honest, its nice to see people discussing a class B game with such passion for a change. For the longest time, no one would have even cared about this game. That in itself speaks volumes about how much both of these programs have progressed over the years
Yea i agree both teams did very well, mak sure to try to catch JFK Edgemont this saturday at 1:30 at JFK. Ill be watching for #33,#22,#5 ii belive all these guys will be big time players in the next three games till then im out.
I TRULY HOPE KENNEDY MAKES SOME ADJUSTMENTS ON DEFENSE.THERE IS FAR TOO MUCH TALENT TO PLAY THIS BADLY..NO REVERSES ON YOUR 2 COACH
Although punt from 43 and reverse were not great calls in hindsight there are some factors at the time that are been overlooked this week in post game analysis. On the reverse, JFK did not have much offense in 1st half they started piling up the yards in 2nd half when westlake whose majority of guys played both ways started wearing down and JFK used their deeper roster.
In first half JFK had their lone TD on a KO return and on this drive they were set up on long KO return They actually had first down inside the one and westlake stuffed them and actually had pushed them back couple of yards as they were around the 3, not 2 on 4th down. On 4thmaybe they should have passed but at that point in game in 1st half it was unlikely they could have run it in as they were being beat at line of scrimmage.
As far as the punt I am pretty sure that was the punt that was downed at one yard line so not a bad decision at time but Westlake took it down the field and scored.
Maybe not best two coaching decisions but maybe Westlake should start getting get some credit of making the goal line stand that forced the reverse call and by driving the ball down the field. Kennedy did not beat themselves, Westlake beat them.
KM im not looking for an argument , there coach had no clue inside the 1 he hands the ball 6 yards behind the line ,also he passes on 3rd down with a QB thats being nice wasnt very good at this time the ball was just inside the 2 a pass n a reverse westlake is not the 85 bears please come up with power football not finnese if they stop you tip you helmet . Also the punt was not downed westlake got it at the 26 a 17 yard difference 4th and 3 this is high school come on show some faith in your offense. I do agree with you on westlake wiltering in the second half . This is all im saying his decisions could have cost them the game with video maddan calls i do give westlake credit though .
KM this is not hindsight reverse is crazy i dont care if it worked most of the time it doesnt stand a chance the d backs dont drop back very far and every block has to be perfect . The JFK defense needs alot of work they let westlake score on 1 and 2 play drives you cant win like that . I seriously doubt croton will allow that but who knows this is the weakest ive seen B class in a long time
I got the punt confused. You are right in number of points. Yes, at high school level in most cases if 4th and less than 5 or 6 years including instance in this game you shoudl never punt inside the 50 and yes a reverse is never a good call that close. If having a problems running up the middle you can do a pitch or qb was quick could have run an option play. reverse is not a good call. just from following B league this year it seems that some teams like edgemont and pleasantville had expectations too high and others like westlake too low. just from reading the blogs (not yours) and an article in scarsdale inquirer about edgemont-westlake game it just seems like from reading like the better team lost where in reality Westlake played good ball and deserves some credit for winning. Being able to win against Croton will be a different story although they will have a very slight chance if they control the ball without turnign it over, limit big plays and get several lucky breaks along the way.
JFK’s D is very good its the coverage schemes made by the coach which sucks. Also there had been allot of changes in the D from when they faced pleasantville.