Football: Bears Look to Win Two in a Row; Panthers Hope to Bounce Back

Briarcliff

After going 0-8 last year, 's football team will head into its home opener at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 against Putnam Valley with plenty of momentum.

That momentum comes courtesy of a 32-29 triumph in its opener on the road at Irvington, a team that swept the Bears a year ago.

“Obviously, it was a pretty big win even though it was opening day,” Coach John Consorti said. “It was in the back of our minds what happened last year so as quickly as we could win one and move forward, that would be best. We were fortunate to get that done on opening day. Hopefully, it will set a different tone for this season.”

That tone was set by a passing game that was off the charts against Irvington. Bears quarterback Ryan Hooper went 10 for 17 in the air with 258 yards and three touchdowns.

One score went to Jon Marrero and the other two to Jackson Plimpton, who had four catches for 202 yards. His two scores from Hooper were from 78 and 56 yards respectively.

Plimpton also caught a 35-yard touchdown on a screen pass from behind the line of scrimmage from Colin Orr.

“The passing game is very important,” Plimpton said. “It is a big part of our game. We rely on it heavily.”

While the Bears looked great in the passing game against Irvington, if they want to beat Putnam Valley, they will have to get their running game going as well. Against Irvington, the Bears rushed for a total of just five yards.

“Offensively, we have to be able to run the ball,” Consorti said. “We didn’t do a very good job of that Saturday against Irvington. We are going to have to be a little bit more balanced running and passing, yardage wise. We are going to have to tackle a little better too.”

Consorti then discussed why that tackling will have to be on its game against the Tigers.

“They have good size, a good backfield that hits the hole hard,” Consorti said. “They can run inside, they can run outside. That combination, you have to be on top of your game to give yourself a chance.

Pleasantville

The Panthers season didn’t start out the way it planned, as the team suffered a 30-0 setback in their opener at Putnam Valley.

Now, Pleasantville will look to regroup when it travels to Nanuet at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.

Coach Tony Becerra said getting back to basics will be the key to coming away with a win in Rockland County.

“We have to be fundamentally very sound,” Becerra said. “We didn’t tackle very well at all. We didn’t execute on both sides of the ball. When we had a third down conversion on offense, we would shoot ourselves in the foot and defensively when we needed to force them to punt, we gave up the third down. So on both sides of the ball third downs were crucial and just executing fundamentals. That’s the jist of it, plain and simple.”

Becerra also admitted that he has to do a better job of play calling.

“After looking back at it, I don’t think I did a good job and it all starts with me,” Becerra said. “Hopefully we will get that cleaned up for this week.”

They will have to against a team that does many things right. Becerra said that defending the option well and finishing off tackles is one must against Nanuet.

“They have good special teams too, their punter really booms it,” Becerra said. “They also have excellent returners, they had two long returns for them. We just have to match what they do on offense, defense and special teams.”

The coach added it’s tough to say what specific area to stop because Nanuet has always been an all-around sound football team.

“They always have been solid,” Becerra said. “They are not going to make mistakes, so we have to limit ourselves.”

If successful, the Panthers will improve their chances of coming back from Rockland with a .500 record.

“There was a lot of soul searching done by everyone on the team, by the coaches and the players,” Becerra said. “It was a long bus ride home from Putnam Valley and this is another road trip. We want to come home this time with a different feeling.”