Football

Green monster

Eldred is far from perfect, but way too strong for young Wildcats

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY - Their nickname is Gang Green, not to be confused with the lethal disorder that destroys human tissue. Still, Eldred’s football team can wreak havoc on opposing teams, leaving them in need of urgent care.

Like a caged beast, Eldred has been waiting to break out and begin a new year. All things come to those who wait, but rewards are only for those who work hard. Eldred opened its 2007 season on an emphatic note by trouncing Hancock 52-6 with a devastating array of passing, running, and positive turnovers. The Yellowjackets easily handled their Section Four counterpart, a team they open their season with year after year, with stifling defense, hard tackling and an offense that has punch even in its formative stage of the 2007 season.

Anxious to get underway with its campaign, Eldred coaches and veterans still grimace as they recall the stultifying end to last season’s Section Nine title game that ended in an abrupt and shocking defeat with an interception by Chester’s Darren Mann. That blow extinguished Eldred’s hopes for a last-second win and its second consecutive Section Nine title.

But what’s done is done.

Now, as Eldred coaches Frank Kean and John LiGreci see it, it’s time to start to motivate their team to work as hard as they can to return to Dietz Stadium for another crack at the title they won in 2005. Two straight division titles have come their way and a record of 17-4 over the past two seasons, but it’s the Section Nine title they covet the most.

This year, Eldred returns a bruising corps of 10 seniors, including running backs Kevin Prunka, who carried the ball 15 times for 138 yards against Hancock in the opener, and Chris Leader, who toted the pigskin 10 times for 104 yards and scored three touchdowns. Wide receiver Kojo Williams, guard Nick Simonelli and center Bob Morrigia made their presence felt time and time again. Simonelli led the defense with 16 tackles and recorded a safety, while sophomore Zach Tyler had seven tackles.

Williams hauled in the game’s first score, a 39-yard touchdown reception, from sophomore quarterback Bryan Henry, who completed four-of-six passes for 84 yards that included a 32-yard TD strike and a subsequent 15-yard TD pass to junior Tom Compasso. Henry looked impressive in his debut, as did Compasso.

Early games provide teachable moments, and Leader learned the hard way to keep the ball in tight after committing a second-half fumble. But the much-improved running back, hampered by an ankle injury during much of the 2006 season, quickly made amends with a stunning breakthrough into the Hancock backfield, just in time to receive a pitch from the shocked Hancock quarterback, prior to dashing 25 yards for a touchdown in one of the game’s highlight moments.

Eldred’s defense swarmed all over Hancock, and knocked sophomore quarterback Dylan Oralls briefly out of the game with an early sack. Oralls returned, but shared signal calling duties with senior John Marino. The latter was responsible for Hancock’s only score on a breakaway 60-yard pass reception from Oralls, as he blew by an Eldred safety en-route for the second-quarter score.

Over the course of the game, Eldred committed 11 penalties, some of which were understandable in the first game of the season. But as senior nose guard Simonelli noted in the post-game huddle, “Other teams could easily capitalize on penalties like that,” setting the stage for a week of practice to get out some of the kinks.

In 2004, Hancock edged Eldred 14-7, but the last two years Eldred has dominated the Wildcats 54-8 in 2005, and last year to the tune of 39-18. This year’s romp showed the widening disparity between the two programs.

The difference, as Hancock coach Walt Smith sees it, is Eldred’s commitment to off-season weight training that yields teams that are physical and ready to explode out of the gate. Smith also pointed to his team’s inability to wrap up on tackles and hit the holes on offense with an authoritative first step.

Eldred wasted no time in unleashing its fearsome presence on the unsuspecting Wildcats, a team comprised of more than a dozen new faces from last year’s winless squad.

Hancock won the toss and elected to receive. Just before the kickoff, 33-year veteran coach Frank Kean told his team, “We’ve waited a long time for this, now let’s play with intensity and heart.”

Williams’ TD pass reception came on Eldred’s first possession, following hefty runs by Leader and Prunka. The PAT was no good and Eldred took a 6-0 lead. The defense forced a Hancock punt and Eldred began its next series on its own 29. Eldred’s running attack tore up chunks of turf, but referees’ flags were reversing gains. The 32-yard pass to Compasso with eight seconds remaining in the first quarter made it 12-0. Henry hit Williams on a pass for the two-point PAT.

Great tackling by Scott Hallock let to a sack that pinned Hancock at its own 10. A blocked punt by Chris Mehedin gave Eldred a great chance, but Hancock’s defense showed Eldred’s current lack of muscle up the middle by holding them and forcing them to settle for a field goal by Bobby Warden that made it 17-0 with 9:04 to go in the second quarter.

Marino’s 60-yard gallop made it 17-6 and incensed Kean, who threatened a hefty dose of running at practice this coming week.

Hancock held Eldred off again in the red zone, and took over on downs. Henry intercepted a pass that cut the Wildcats’ series short. A holding penalty called back a Prunka TD run and a TD run by Henry on another holding call. Henry fumbled at the one and Hancock recovered, but couldn’t move the ball against Eldred’s now incensed defense.

Eldred’s swarming defense nailed Oralls in the end zone for a safety. He and Zach Tyler were making great tackles all night long. Both are sophomores.

Leading by 19-6, Eldred got a short field from the post-safety punt, and Leader ended the drive with a one-yard plunge to make it 25-6 with 1:50 to go in the half.

Eldred’s defense, orchestrated by Coach John LiGreci, kept on coming. Another Hancock fumble was recovered by Leader at the Hancock 11. With 41 seconds to go, a 15-yard TD pass to Compasso made it 31-6. Eldred faked a PAT kick and Henry scored on the two-point conversion to make it 33-6.

Eldred continued to roll by getting a 25-yard TD from Leader to make it 39-6. The PAT made it an even 40.

Leader’s take away in the Hancock backfield made it 46-6, as the PAT failed. To ice the night, Eldred’s junior varsity scored the final touchdown on a one-yard run by freshman Ian Halloran.

Kean told his team that he was very proud of them, but cautioned that their play will have to improve to deal with upcoming opponents who are bound to be much tougher.

Eldred plays at Liberty on September 8, and Kean and LiGreci traveled to Delhi on September 1 to film the game won by Liberty 26-20 over the Section Four Class D perennial powerhouse.

Hancock will get Delhi on September 8. Delhi coaches were up on the hill at Eldred, scoping out Hancock for next week’s fray.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.