M-W uses ball control to pick up Week 0 win over North Rockland

THIELLS — It was a time to see what both teams can do.

Monroe-Woodbury football took the 36-14 win over North Rockland in a non-league Week 0 season opener on Saturday afternoon at North Rockland High School.

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The Red Raiders led pregame by remembering late coach Tom Lynch. The team wore green shamrocks on the back of their helmets, and they will dedicate this season in memory of Lynch. New coach James Hickey made his debut at the helm.

The Crusaders' offense, defense and special teams were relentless all game long. Conor Fitzgibbon made a mark throughout the game, but got the scoring started on a 38-yard touchdown run with 8:28 remaining in the first quarter.

North Rockland's Greg Becker's touchdown run and Eric Nunez's extra point would help knot the game at 7 with 3:01 left in the first quarter. But it was all Crusaders from there.

Red Raiders' starting quarterback Tyler Italiano's pass intended for Becker was intercepted by Fitzgibbon early in the second quarter. This would place the Crusaders on their own 47-yard line. This would hurt the Red Raiders as running back Eryk Shammgod would run in a 5-yard touchdown on the ensuing offensive drive.

“He’s got a of maturity now," Monroe-Woodbury coach James Sciarra said of Fitzgibbon. "He’s been with me since his sophomore year in that spring season that we had, along with Eryk Shammgod and a couple of the other guys. His leadership, both on and off the field, he’s a great student, he’s a great leader and he’s a great teammate. Really all five of my captains are captains that every coach dreams of, the kids respect them, everybody respects them and they always do the right thing.”

Penalties hurt the North Rockland offense, before the Crusaders' defense made themselves known as Alan Ramirez sacked Italiano on third down with a little over three minutes left in the second quarter. The Crusaders would start the next drive from the North Rockland 46-yard line. New Monroe-Woodbury starting quarterback David Fennessy would score on a 5-yard touchdown run.

And then the ensuing kickoff took a weird bounce, and was touched by North Rockland a few yards from the end zone. The Monroe-Woodbury special teams unit pounced on it for the safety and would take a 22-7 lead into halftime.

“It does wonders for our confidence, because last year this team went on the road and we lost to Cornwall in the season-opener last year, so being able to come out here in the first game and get a win, that’s just always a great thing and it’s preparing us for next week for Cicero-North Syracuse," Shammgod said on the win.

What it means

Monroe-Woodbury fell just short in the Section 9 Class AA championship game last year to Newburgh Free Academy and showed they have a deep team this season in the Week 0 win. Southpaw quarterback David Fennessy debuted in place of Michael Zrelak, who graduated. North Rockland will go back to the drawing board to build upon the loss.

Player of the game

Monroe-Woodbury senior free safety Conor Fitzgibbon changed the momentum of the game with two interceptions in critical moments and he also added six tackles. Offensively, he opened the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Fitzgibbon gave credit to the coaching staff for putting together a 'great' gameplan.

By the numbers

Monroe-Woodbury (1-0) — The Crusaders rushed for 321 yards, picked up 18 first downs as a team and had zero turnovers. Fitzgibbon opened the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown. Eryk Shammgod ran for 154 yards on 20 rushes and two touchdowns (5 and 7 yards). New starting quarterback David Fennessy gained 62 yards on nine carries and had a 5-yard touchdown run. Matteo Severo also added an 8-yard touchdown run. Defensively, Fitzgibbon made six tackles and had two crucial interceptions. Mike Rowe made 11 tackles. Punter and kicker Quincy Banker had a strong day, as he made four of five extra points and pinned North Rockland inside their own 20 on a punt. He also notched a touchback on a kickoff.

North Rockland (0-1) — Greg Becker scored the first touchdown of the game for the Red Raiders on a run to the pylon with 3:01 left in the first quarter. With 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter, quarterback Tyler Italiano took it himself for a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Running backs Gamie Sauveur and Freddy Vazquez had solid runs as well. Eric Nunez made both extra point kicks in the game.

They said it

“Our offense that we run is pretty predicated on ball control and being able to run the football. As a defense, it becomes demoralizing when that offense is controlling the ball and you can’t get off the field and it’s tiring. My guys up front, they did a good job. We still have some work to do, but I’m proud of the kids and everybody that touched the ball. We had about seven or eight kids that touched the ball today.” - Monroe-Woodbury coach James Sciarra on what his team did well in the Week 0 win over North Rockland.

“We tried to book a really tough team in Monroe-Woodbury. We wanted to see where we were at, we didn’t want to have a false sense of confidence going into the season. We wanted to try and see what kind of team we had. Not only in terms of winning and losing the game, but seeing where our culture is right now. The culture of our program is the biggest thing, the wins and losses will take care of itself, so that’s really what we’re looking for right now.” - North Rockland coach James Hickey reflects on his first game at the helm.

What's next

Monroe-Woodbury is scheduled to play Cicero-North Syracuse in a non-league game on Friday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. North Rockland is slated to host Mount Vernon in a league game on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m.

MKramer1@th-record.com

Twitter: @MKramerTHR

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Monroe-Woodbury uses ball control to pick up win over North Rockland