By Phil Foley
It was “Friday Night Lights” last Friday when the Yonkers Force defeated the Yonkers Brave 5-0 in a hard-fought contest at the Saunders High School field.
It was the first meeting in history for these two Yonkers teams. Crowd-wise, it was also historic, as 4,000 fans showed up to watch the game, including the Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano. Yonkers Rising would like to salute the two teams and their coaches, Dan DeMatteo of the Force and Vincent Chiappa of the Brave. The game was also well attended by members of the Yonkers fire and police departments, for whom the teams are named.
“It was a great event for the entire community,” said DeMatteo.
The star of the game once again was Eliajah Chambless, who had 13 rushes for 83 yards and one touchdown (on a 23-yard clutch run). He also scored on a 2-point conversion after his TD, and had six tackles for the Force defense. Chambless is a senior from Yonkers Montessori Academy.
Tyler Hamilton also scored a TD for the Force (on a 5-yard run).
DeMatteo gave a lot of credit to Tyrek Greene, who had many nice blocks to spring his running mates for nice gains. He also gave credit to his defense, which gave up just over 100 yards in the game.
The Brave had a nice game, coming close to scoring three times, and Javal McNair performed well as quarterback. The team got to the 1-yard line before it was flagged for a 5-yard procedure penalty as time ran out in the second quarter. The score at the half was 7-0 in favor of the Force.
At the end of the game, the Superintendent’s Trophy was given to the Yonkers Force, which ended its regular season 5 and 2. The Brave ended up 2 and 4.
The Force is the fifth seed in the 1 AA Playoffs. The team travels to Arlington H.S. this Friday night. Game time is 6 p.m. The Brave will play Scarsdale H.S. at Saunders Field on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
It was a great first season for all those involved. Both teams made Yonkers proud! Thanks to the Yonkers police and fire departments for all their support, too – including the portable lights for the game.
