Garnets Shake the Quakers

Rye and Horace Greeley have been on opposite sides of the spectrum coming into the fourth week of the season. The Horace Greeley Quakers won their three previous games with ease, while Rye struggled to put points on the board and lost three close games. Everything was set up for the Quakers to run away with the game, but Rye came out on top 26-7.

The Garnets got two touchdowns from Joe Simolacaj and Horace Greeley had issues all day stopping Rye’s rushing attack. James Dugan also scored once on the ground; combined with Simolacaj and senior Jake Meyerson, the Garnets formed a fierce three-headed monster that gave the Quaker defense trouble all day.

As good as they were on the ground, Rye was equally impressive through the air. Freshman Andrew Livingston picked apart the Horace Greeley defense on several long drives. Rye’s offense moved at its best in the fourth quarter, where Livingston found tight-end Dylan Lynch for a ten-yard touchdown. The toss to Lynch broke the Quakers putting the game out of reach.

“Livingston is getting better at it all the time,” Said Rye Head Coach Dino Garr, “he’s a freshman and each game is a fantastic game with him.”

While the Rye offense put points on the board, the Garnet defense awoke from their season long slump and contained one of the best players in the area, senior signal caller Justin Ciero. Ciero can hurt the defense by using either his arm or pulling the ball down and running it himself. The quarterback hurt Rye in the second quarter when he snuck into the end zone for a touchdown, but after half time the Garnet defense neutralized the threat. 

“He’s a great athlete and you could see it until the very end, he puts fright in you every time he carries the ball,” said Coach Garr of Ciero. “The key to it was we had a team effort. Everyone was putting pressure to him, we covered their players. I think we took away the fact that they could run the ball successfully, and left it up to him all time and I think its hard to be the only focus on a team.”

Thanks to turnovers in previous games, Coach Garr and the Garnets took a little longer then expected to get into the win column this season, but on Saturday afternoon the team was able to overcome and win the game.

“We stopped making mistakes,” Garr went on to say, “things that stopped us in the past are things that we overcame today and started doing a good job against a very good team. I thought it was a great day.”

Rye may have done too much damage for playoff hopes already, but the big victory against Horace Greeley gives the Garnets new life and even more motivation for the rest of their schedule.

“It’s huge,” said Coach Garr of the victory, “every game is important to us to even stay close to the playoffs. I’m not sure if we can still do it, but this is a big step towards that."

Greeley looks to get back on track as they travel to the 3-1 John Jay Indians on Thursday night. Rye will face off against the winless Roosevelt Indians, also on Thursday.