Bronxville Defeats Pearl River in Battle of Unbeatens

Pearl River crossed the Hudson to face Broxville in a battle of unbeatens under the lights Saturday night.

The Pirates defense has been stout all year, allowing an average of a stingy 8.5 points per game but the Broncos ran wild on the eve of their homecoming and trampled the Pirates 37-6.

Senior running back Christian Conway rushed for over 200 yards on his 28 carries for the Broncos’ Saturday night.

“It’s our homecoming, we had to come hard,” said Conway. “We knew we would be under the lights and the whole town would be behind us. There is nothing like this.”

The Pearl River defense  struggled to get any push from their defensive front, which meant they weren’t getting a hand on the Broncos’ runners until they were three yards up field.

“We played a horrible game defensively tonight,” said Pearl River Head Coach Jeff Michael. “Broxville is a state-champion quality opponent and it is good for our guys to see a team like this. It’s an eye opener for the guys.”

The Broncos first possession was ended quickly but their second drive was a 13-play touchdown march that took over seven minutes off the clock and kept Pearl River’s offense on the sideline. Controlling the ball and the game for that amount of time was a big statement from the Broncos.

Pearl River trailed just 16-6 with 2:33 remaining in the first half. The Pirates offense drove down field with precision they hadn’t displayed all night and picked up a first and goal at the 4-yard line. A pair of incomplete passes and a 3-yard run left, the Pirates had the ball on the 6-inch line with 0.8 in the half. Rather than going for the easy three and cutting the lead to seven, Michaels kept his offense on the field. Pearl River gave the ball to power-running fullback Mike Brophy up the middle, but Bronxville's defense stuffed him short of the goal line.

“I put it on my guys shoulders,” said Michaels. “Going for three just didn’t feel like the right choice at the time. I believed in the guys. I still believe in them.”

The second half started with the ball in Pearl River’s hands. The Pirates were still trailing 16-6 and were in need of a big drive. The Broncos defense did a good job of mixing up their blitzes and pressured Josh Brebbia into throwing an interception that left Bronxville with the ball deep in Pearl River territory.  The Broncos scored quickly and went up 23-6.

“There was a bit of a miscommunication,” said Michaels. “[Brebbia] just read the blitz wrong and there was just a bit of a mix up based on the blitz pick up.”

The Broncos running game was so strong all night that Pearl River never saw enough of the ball to get back into the game.

“[Pearl River] is a tough team, undefeated with a lot of pride,” said Bronxville Head Coach Jeff Napolitano. “We really prepared well for this one. The team played well tonight and I am vey proud of it.”

Both teams will open the Section 1 playoffs this week. The matchups and locations for the games will be determined Sunday morning. Bronxville is defending the state Class C championship and will be the top seed. Pearl River is looking to make some noise in the Class A playoffs for the first time in a long time and could open at home Thursday, Oct. 27 as the No. 2 seed even with Saturday's loss.