Football: Briarcliff Improves to 2-0 in Home Opener

The varsity football team made it two straight weeks with a “W,” and did so from behind in the quarter that counts most—the fourth. 

The Bears trailed by two points going into the fourth quarter and called upon senior wideout Jonathan Marrero to see if he had one more big play in him, and Marrero would not disappoint. 

It was third-and-goal on the visiting Putnam Valley 14-yardline with just more than 7:45 left in the game and Briarcliff called a halfback option pass. The pass developed nicely as quarterback Ryan Hooper handed off the ball to halfback Colin Orr, who then threw a pass towards the back of the endzone where only Marrero had a real shot at it.

Marrero elevated over the Putnam Valley defender, snatched the ball down and got the required one foot down for what proved to be game-winning touchdown as the Bears held on to beat Putnam Valley 12-8 in the Section 1 Class B matchup today.

“I just try to help my team win in any way possible and it was a great play call by coach [John Consorti] and everybody did a good job of executing the play,” Marrero, who finished with 67 yards and two receiving tds on four catches said. “Being 2-0 means a lot to us around here, especially going winless last year, so we want to take this momentum into to next game and keep working hard and getting better."

Putnam Valley did squander opportunities on both sides of the ball, but yet and still, managed to hold on to an 8-6 lead for much of the final three quarters. It even had a chance to answer Marrero’s last touchdown score by recovering a fumble on a botched toss play. The Tigers had a little over three minutes to navigate down the field from their own 34-yardline, but the Briarcliff defense made one last stand and stopped Putnam Valley from even reaching scoring territory.

“We’re just fortunate that we made enough plays to win this game,” Consorti said. “We had execution problems, especially on the fumble of the toss there late which is inexcusable, but what I love about this team is their attitude and willingness to fight, and that’s the major difference from this team and prior teams in the last two years.”

Briarcliff’s ability to slow down Putnam Valley’s running game was a huge deciding factor in the game. Putnam Valley’s leading rusher was senior halfback Anthony Gentile who finished with 53 yards and a rushing td on four carries. 

“You have to give them credit—they really did a good job of stopping our running attack especially after how well we ran the ball last week,” Putnam Valley Head Coach Matt Mello said. “We had our chances, which are rare in these games because there are a lot of teams in Class B, but we just couldn’t convert them.”