Football: Somers survives bad first half, scores twice in second to beat John Jay-CR

SOMERS — The Somers football team, last year's Section 1 Class A champs, played like anything but that in the first half Friday night against John Jay-Cross River.

After two fumbles, two interceptions (one an end zone pick) and seeing Ravi Dass's 78-yard touchdown called back due to a hold, the only thing Somers could be happy about was that, despite all that, it somehow trailed only 7-6.

And that fact loomed large in the second half as the Tuskers' defense held and their offense scored twice in a 20-7 win.

For John Jay-CR, which was stopped repeatedly deep in Somers' territory, once gaining 20 yards to the Somers 1 on a fourth-and-goal from the 21, it was another disappointment, coming a week after its overtime loss to Yorktown.

In that game, quarterback Craig Galea threw for more than 400 yards and four TDs

But while he had some nice connections, particularly to Austin Zaccagnino, Somers largely contained Galea, who was hurt by the fact the Wolves couldn't muster much of a running game.

"Defense wins games," said Dass, who indicated his team took a "things happen in football" attitude into the half.

"We just have heart and didn't give up," Dass added.

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What it means

The win puts Somers at 1-0.

For John Jay, it's back to practice with notes on both what went right and wrong.

"We left a lot out there," Wolf first-year varsity head coach Joe Candarelli lamented, referring to his team's failure to capitalize on multiple drives. "It's kind of the tale of the team for these two weeks. We've been right there, knocking on the door."

"We have a lot to clean up," he said, "but we have a lot to build on with this team."

Player of the game

Somers got on the scoreboard first. During an opening drive that followed a short Wolf kickoff, Tuskers QB Matt Fitzsimons (18-for-16 for 73 yards) orchestrated a 53-yard drive that included a 10-yard pass to Mac Sullivan, a Luke Savino 18-yard, tackle-breaking run and a 17-yard TD strike to Luke Kennedy.

But it was Kennedy's defense that was a real difference-maker.

He had nine tackles, three for losses. He came up particularly big in the second quarter when John Jay-CR took over at midfield on a Michael Aiello Jr. interception.

John Jay drove to the Somers 5 on two passes from Galea to Mike Mendicino.

But then Kennedy stopped a run for a 7-yard loss and after Ryan Cole (who had 10 tackles) sacked Galea for a 9-yard loss, Kennedy pulled Dominic Savastano down a yard shy of the goal line on that fourth-and-21 20-yard catch-and-run.

By the numbers

Savino played a big role in Somers going on top in the third quarter.

After seeing his 66-yard run from scrimmage called back due to a penalty during the Tuskers' previous offensive series, Savino took a handoff on the John Jay-CR 33 following a short Wolf punt, broke left, stiff-armed one defender and gained 23 yards. He then gained five more to the 5, Dass ran to the 1 and Fizsimons punched it in from there with 3:04 left in the quarter

An interception by Tusker Nick Conti at the John Jay 32 during the next series was followed by a Mason Kelly 12-yard run, a 17-yard pass from Fitzsimons to Dass and, a play later, by a Dass 2-yard TD run as the fourth quarter got underway.

They said it

"I think we had the ball three or four times in the red zone and not scoring at all really hurt us," said Zaccagnino.

Somers coach Anthony DeMatteo said, "We definitely shot ourselves in the foot and a lot of times we had bad breaks."

But he chalked up some miscues to young guys finding out what it's like to play "Somers Friday Night Lights."

"We have a long way to go but I'm happy at the way the guys responded. But we can't make that many mistakes," DeMatteo said.

What's next

John Jay will look for its first win next week when it hosts Clarkstown North Friday in a 6:30 p.m. start.

The Tuskers will travel to Eastchester next Saturday to play the Eagles. That game is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Football: Somers survives nightmarish first half to beat John Jay-CR