By Phil Foley
The merger of Yonkers High School football now means that sports fans in the city can now root for two teams; The Yonkers Brave-made up of students from Lincoln High School, Palisade Preparatory School, Riverside High School, Saunders Trades & Technical High School,
And the Yonkers Force – made up of students from Gorton High School, Roosevelt High School – Early College Studies, Yonkers Middle High School and Yonkers Montessori Academy.
That new era dawned this past weekend as the two Yonkers High School teams played their first football games. The Yonkers Force coached by Dan DeMatteo fell to Ossining HS 21-14 last Friday night in a game played at Ossining HS. On Saturday September 1st Vic Chiappa’s team the Brave lost to
New Rochelle HS 41-0 in a game played at New Rochelle HS. The Yonkers Rising would like to congratulate all the coaches and players for being a part of this historic occaision!
Coach DeMatteo told me the Force made a comeback against Ossining where they were losing 21-0 at the half. In the second half the Yonkers team Scored 2 TDs one by Jason Garcia and one by Tyler Hamilton both on runs. The star of the game for the Force was Tyrek Greene who rushed for 131 yards in the game. Rance Hamilton also rushed for 76 yards on 8 carries Jason Garcia was 2 for 5 passing on the day!
On defense Destin Younger had 8 tackles and Rance Hamilton 6 tackles. This week the Force plays Portchester HS at 1:30 pm Saturday September the 8th at Gorton HS Field.
For Coach Chiappa the game at New Rochelle was a homecoming of sorts as he was formerly New Rochelle’s assistant coach for the last four seasons. The football gods were not to kind making New Rochelle their first opponent. This was like the Tampa Bay Bucs playing the Super Bowl Champs in
their first game ever. New Rochelle was just too much for this young team! They have a great Coach in Vic Chiappa and they will get better!
Coach Chiappa said of the game, “My boys never gave up and I was proud of their effort and I’m proud to be their coach”. The Brave will play Ossining this Saturday September 8th at Saunders HS Field. 1:30pm.
Yonkers is behind their two new football teams, with Yonkers Board of Education President Rev. Steve Lopez and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin M. Quezada, and with the enthusiastic support of the Hon. Mayor Mike Spano, the City of Yonkers Police and Fire Departments and their elected associations, all rooting them on to a great year. The YPD & YFD have embraced the two teams and have committed their support both on and off the field, to encourage the players’ athletic and academic success as well as build strong relationships among the city’s youth, police officers and fire fighters.
