Football: Briarcliff Goes For Three; Panthers Seek First Win

The Bears will go into their game with visiting Edgemont (2-0) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 with plenty of good vibes.

After going 0-8 last year, the Bears have gotten off to a 2-0 start.

“It obviously feels great,” Coach John Consorti said. “The season is still early though, but we are off to a very good start and hopefully we can continue to improve and build upon it. It really helps with the confidence and preparation when you win.”

Consorti said having experienced players this year has helped the team out a lot.

“The fact that they played together as a team and that they are working hard are two of the keys to us winning,” Consorti said. “Last year was a humbling experience and they have come in with a very good attitude. They want to be successful and are doing the right things to give us the best shot to be successful.”

The Bears will look to be successful against an Edgemont squad that boasts the same record going into tomorrow's game.

“They are similar to us in that they have won a couple of close games, they took advantage of some opportunities like we have,” Consorti said. “We are looking at mirror images early in the season. You have to give them credit, too. They made some plays or enough to be 2-0 just like we have.”

While Briarcliff was able to win its last game, 12-8 against visiting Putnam Valley, Consorti said that if the Bears want to be victorious against Edgemont, it will have to cut down on the penalties and turnovers inside the red zone.

“Defensively we are going to have to be a little more disciplined, they run an option game,” Consorti said. “We are going to have to be alert defensively. Offensively, we just want to build on the balance we had. Last week, we started throwing the ball with a good, short passing game. We just have to keep working on things and we will get better. We just have to come up with the plays when we need them.”

After losing a 7-6 heartbreaker in the final moments at Nanuet last week, the Panthers (0-2) will look for their first win of their season against visiting Ardsley (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23.

The game will be played at Valhalla High School because of the expected inclement weather. Pleasantville’s regular home field,, usually doesn’t fare well in bad weather so the game was moved according to Pleasantville Coach Tony Becerra, whose team has played home games at Valhalla in the past in similar situations.

“It will have the home-game feel,” Becerra said. “Home or not, the priority is to get into the win column.”

And to do that, the Panthers will have to defeat a strong offensive Ardsley squad.

“They are very balanced,” Becerra said. “Nanuet was one dimensional, they ran the ball mostly and did a good job of it. Ardsley runs and throws very well. Its biggest weapon is its quarterback [Daniel Stein], a returning starter, who not only throws the ball well, but is most dangerous when he runs whether by design or when he is flushed out. He’s very dangerous with the ball.”

To slow down Stein, keeping containment will be of paramount importance for Pleasantville’s defense.

“We have to contain him, contain him, contain him,” Becerra said. “We can’t give up the big play. They have big play capability so any points that are given up, we want them to earn it, not to give it to them.”

Offensively, Becerra said the key to success will be to finish drives.

“We dominated that first half (against Nanuet),” Becerra said. “We had opportunities to finish drives. It just goes back to making mistakes at critical points that lead to us giving up possession. We only had two possessions in the whole second half, one in the third quarter and another in the fourth quarter.”

“They were able to grind it out on the ground most of the second half,” Becerra continued. “When you only have two possessions in two quarters, it’s tough to get into any kind of flow. But we really had our opportunities in the first half.”