Horsemen Can't Catch Huskies

Tanner Knox scored three touchdowns for Harrison as the Huskies rolled over Sleepy Hollow, 31-6, in a Sunday game that featured sloppy ball handling and a brawl that will likely result in a few suspensions for both teams.

The game resumed with nine minutes left in the first quarter, after a weather delay forced the game to be moved from Thursday night. But just like Thursday the Horsemen could not stop the Harrison run game as the Huskies overpowered the Sleepy Hollow defense for their second consecutive blowout win at the new McGillicuddy Stadium.

"We were still beat up on Thursday," said Sleepy Hollow's Head Coach Steve Borys. "I think it's ridiculous that anyone has to play Thursday because you are still sore from Saturday but it gave us some more time to heal. But results didn't matter too much, they whooped us pretty good."

The Harrison running game's two headed monster of Knox and Alex Acompora did the majority of the "whooping" that Borys was referring to. Knox's ability to pound the ball up the middle and break tackles paired with Acompora's east to west running gave the Horsemen nightmares from the very first snap of the game.

Harrison got on the scoreboard when Knox took a handoff up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown. Though the Huskies offense was nowhere near done for the day, the Husky defense was equally impressive and the seven points would prove to be all Harrison needed for the victory.

Harrison's swarming defense created a lot of frustration for the Horsemen as well as several turnovers. The Sleepy Hollow team had issues with ball security as they threw an interception, fumbled the ball several times and had problems with snapping the football.

"The snaps were fine except for one, the quarterback just couldn't catch it," said Borys. "It's the little things like quarterback-center exchange, it should never be a problem, but we had it four or five times today."

After another Knox touchdown and a field goal from Harrison's Roberto Bruno the Huskies led 17-0 with more than ten minutes left in the first half.

The Huskies were on the verge of running away with the game, but the Horsemen put together a long drive that kept them in it. A long pass play from quarterback Nick Vallo gave the Horsemen great field position for the team's other quarterback Dondre Shorrock to pound the ball into the end zone for the team's only points. Sleepy Hollow missed the two point conversion leaving them down 17-6.

The Horsemen surprised everyone when they tried an onside kick and recovered the ball, however on their very first play from scrimmage the Sleepy Hollow pass was intercepted by Harrison's Steven Ricciardi.

Harrison then put the game out of reach when Knox and Acompora added touchdowns before the half to give the Huskies a 31-6 lead.

"I thought we played a great first half," said Harrison's Head Coach Art Troilo Jr. "I thought we executed very well."

"The offensive line did a great job blocking," said Knox. "We watched the film from Thursday's game and even though we only had five plays we made a lot of adjustments from those five plays and it came out in our favor."

Things got sloppy in the second half in more ways than one. The Horsemen continued to have difficulties getting the ball to the quarterback and the Husky defense consistently found themselves out of position. Making matters worse, Harrison suffered a loss when Acompora was taken off the field with an apparent ankle injury, he did not return to the game.

Early in the forth quarter the Sleepy Hallow offense faced a forth and three situation. The Horsemen gave the ball to tailback, L.J. Garrant and Harrison defensive back James Tirella sniffed out the play and took down Garrant behind the line of scrimmage.

Tempers flared after the Tirella tackle and all things quickly escalated out of control. The play was made close to the Sleepy Hollow sideline and the shoving match quickly escalated into a bench-clearing brawl.

After the melee the game was stopped for nearly twenty minutes as the officials regained control of the situation. Two players from each team were ejected, resulting in likely suspensions. Players and coaches from both team were eventually brought to midfield for a sportsmanship discussion and handshake.

After the fight both teams kept the ball on the ground without creating any substantial offense. Harrison held on for the 31-6 victory and improved to 2-0, Sleepy Hollow dropped to 0-2.

Harrison's next game is on Saturday, Sept. 25 against Eastchester, the game will be the Huskies final regular season home game of the year.