Dobbs Ferry won the fourth state championship in program history, beating Section 6’s Southwestern 39-0 at the Carrier Dome in the Class C state championship.
Quarterback Spencer Avalos was named the game’s MVP. The senior went 9 for 10 for 146 yards and a touchdown, completing all nine passes in the first half. He also rushed for 42 yards on eight carries and had an interception.
Avalos completed five passes to senior Thomas Fleming for 86 yards, including a touchdown of 16 yards that capped a five-play, 81-yard drive that lasted just 51 seconds. Avalos was 4 for 4 on the drive, including three completions to Fleming. Fleming caught the TD with 47 seconds left in the half to give the Eagles (11-1) a 27-0 halftime lead.
Three Dobbs Ferry running backs surpassed 100 yards rushing. Senior Eddie Ritch had 15 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown. Senior John Yozzo-Scaperrotta went for 13 carries, 118 yards and three touchdowns, including a 58-yarder in the fourth quarter that capped the scoring. Sophomore Tim Soave had 19 carries for 110 yards and a TD.
The Eagles did not punt all game. They twice lost fumbles inside the Southwestern 10 to stop drives. They also turned the ball over on downs in Southwestern territory.
Dobbs Ferry outgained Southwestern 567-96. The Eagles rushed for 421 yards and five touchdowns on 61 rushes. They had 30 first downs compared to six for Southwestern.
Matt Fata led Dobbs with seven tackles. Darien Bica also had an interception. Soave and Brian Gardner combined on a sack.
Gardner became the fourth player in his family to win a state championship.
Southwestern had won the Class C state title in 2008 (over Croton-Harmon) and 2009 (over Bronxville). Star Jake Swan had six rushes for 25 yards and five receptions for 30 yards.
AWARD WINNERS —
Sportsmanship: Chad Cooper, Southwestern; Rocco Cipriano, Dobbs Ferry
Most valuable offensive lineman: Dennis DeLeone, Dobbs Ferry
Most valuable offensive back: Eddie Ritch, Dobbs Ferry
Most valuable defensive lineman: Muhammad Hashami, Dobbs Ferry
Most valuable defensive back: Jake Swan, Southwestern
MVP: Spencer Avalos, Dobbs Ferry
56 Comments
when will don bosco play st anthony lol lol lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wackoff,
Don Bosco “Prep” is not a public high school. Get with the program.
I would like to see St. Anthonys play Orchard Park.
Sissy,
you are crazy and not making any sense. It comes down to size as i said before, teams like St Anthny’s has more kids on the high school football team than dobbs ferry has in a grade. That means they pull from a larger pool of talent, players play one way, and student scan travel from different towns/cities to attend and play.
Dobbs is very small, most players don’t plan to play on the next level, play both sides and special teams. There was not a lineman over 175 pounds on their team this year, because of the pool they pull from. One year a player was the RB, MLB, Kicker/Punter, Kickoff and punt returner. That does not happen at larger school, but happens in smaller school where you barely have enough players to field a team.
They would not be able to compete in AA of AAA, due to size of players and playing both ways.
There will be different leagues because the school are very different in size. How different do you think your starting lineup would differ if you had 100 students come out for the team compared to 20?????????????????????
Is st Anthony a public high school? If not why not play don bosco?
GoDobbs,
I think I made a big mistake trying to make a point on a Dobbs thread. My point has NOTHING to do with the Dobbs program or their kids. I only brought up Dobbs when others kept bringing this team up in their defense which was misguided by them.
My point is this format of leagues needs to be changed. There are too many champions, too many leagues. I am not saying a team like Dobbs should ever play a team in AA or AAA. But be real, 6 championship teams in the State of New York is a farce. You do not even have 6 divisions in Major League Baseball or any sport. Give that some thought. Why is it so in high school football? I think to prop interest otherwise it would have a very small following, only the competitive teams would draw a crowd.
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Wacko,
St. Anthonys is in the Catholic High School ranks, but that does not mean they can’t ever play a public school if they get together and agree to do so with a public school.
Don Bosco, #1 in the nation, from New Jersey, is also a Prep school but play national ranked teams.
I know that Stepinac and White Plains also play each other because of a rivalry but are in separate leagues.
St. Anthonys could play Don Bosco but they are from different states, their coaches would have to arrange it and usually Don Bosco plays out of state teams that trash talk them like a Florida team did a month ago and who ended up eating their words and got beat by Don Bosco.
Don Bosco is not really a high school team, it is an ALL STAR team that plays on a college level, hence they beat everyone.
Remember, this is high school, and at the end who really cares about recognition and right/wrong of set up. They compete at their own level and at the end when playing against teams or districts that also struggle with the same issues (team size, overall enrollment, etc.), they all do a pretty good job working with what they have. Of course teams will be better than others, that does not mean they should not be recognized for that, or have to move up to play other schools double or triple their size.
St. Anthony’s has won a number of titles, they are not moving up to play nationally ranked team, why not? Because they should be proud that they are the best in their division?
It’s high school, not the pros and not college. Dobbs has a bunch of kids they play on strictly pride alone, not one is playing at the next level and they still remain motivated enough to work harder and longer then the other teams that are in their division. At this level, it is really the coaches and time that they put in each week that determines who is going further. All have athletes that are comparable and once again struggle with placing a team on the field by choosing from a group of 20 overall players.