On Friday, Sept. 9, two longstanding rivals squared off on the gridiron, as Class AA Mamaroneck played host to the Scarsdale Raiders in the first meeting between the two teams since the Tigers topped the Raiders in a playoff showdown two years ago. This time, however, it was Scarsdale that emerged victorious, as the Raiders bested Mamaroneck 7-6 in a rain-soaked Week 2 showdown.
Both defenses were spectacular on Friday, as neither team allowed a score for the first three quarters of play. Scarsdale was able to pick up the first touchdown of the game early in the fourth, as Ezekiah Bacchus found the end zone on a 8-yard run and Scarsdale converted the extra point to jump out to a 7-0 lead over Mamaroneck.
The Tigers answered back, scoring on a run by Daniel O’Rourke—who finished the day with 135 yards on 21 carries—with seven minutes left to play, but were stopped on a two-point conversion that ultimately sealed the win for the Raiders.
Despite the loss, Mamaroneck head coach Anthony Vitti was pleased with the way his team came out in the rivalry game.
“The biggest positive from an internal perspective is the incredible effort that our kids put forth,” he said. “They showed up to play; they knew it was going to be a heated contest from Day One.”
The Tigers’ defense, which was able to keep the Raiders out of the end zone save for the Bacchus touchdown, was also a positive.
“Scarsdale poses an interesting threat in that they run the triple option, and it’s hard to run that and mimic it in practice with the same speed and precision,” Vitti said. “We knew coming in that we were going to have to play good assignment defense and our staff, especially our defensive coordinator David Smith, did a great job in preparing us to defend against the option.”
At 1-1 on the season, the Tigers will look to rebound from the Scarsdale loss when they travel up to Clarkstown North on Sept. 16 to take on the Rams. Vitti believes that his team has picked up some much-needed experience over the course of its first two games, which were both decided by a single point.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a win or a loss, you learn a lot from close games,” he said. “To be there right at the end, it steels you and it galvanizes you for later in the season.
“We met on Saturday after the game, had a good run, a good lift and we debriefed the game,” he added. “I expect us to have a great week of practice and we are going to try to get back on the left side of the win column.”
