The Mamaroneck football may have had its first true test on Friday night, one glance at the game proved that the Tigers were up to the challenge. Hosting John Jay in a matchup between 1-0 teams, Mamaroneck’s depth, will and execution were on display as the Tigers outworked the Patriots to come away with a 35-21 win.
Heading into the Week 2 showdown, both the Patriots and Tigers were coming off one-sided victory that did little to
“We realize that this John Jay team has been a bit of a bugaboo for us in the past several years,” said Vitti. “So having them come down to us, put a stake in our field and giving us a game, we knew this was going to be a stiff challenge.”
The Patriots came out of the gates firing, scoring the game’s first touchdown on a busted quarterback sneak by Jake Vanderoef that went for a long score. But the Tigers quickly settled in to a routine, taking a 21-14 lead by halftime and adding another score on their first play of the second half on a long run by Damari Hamilton (136 yards, two touchdowns).
Quarterback Jason Cox, who finished with 176 passing yards and two touchdowns to Rhett Chambers, said that the Tigers simply had to find their footing against a good squad.
“At first I think we weren’t really clicking,” said Cox. “But at halftime, we made some checks, calmed everybody down and we came out and got it done.
Cox and the Tigers put the game away late, when on a short-yardage third-down situation, he connected with Chambers behind the defense to build a two score cushion.
“Earlier in the game, Chambers said we had Andrew Glinski under and he was going to beat his man over the top,” said Cox. “I trusted him, pump faked to Glinski and then just hit him over the top.”
Defensively, the Tigers were able to limit Vanderoef’s effectiveness in with a strong second-half pass rush. Jack Ramsey had 2.5 sacks and had a hand in 22 tackles on the day, and Vitti said the tightening defense was a credit to the tenacity of the Tiger players.
“It was a lot things; our players coming off the field and telling us what they saw and our coaches making adjustments,” he said. “Ultimately, I think fatigue set in a little bit and we were able to get some runs at him, which made a difference.”
The Tigers (2-0) will be back home next week against rival White Plains (0-2), which is coming off a 35-17 defeat at the hands of Suffern. Vitti said his team will take time to reflect on the positives and negatives from Friday night’s game as they look to keep their winning ways intact.
“The standard is the standard, so it’s always next up,” he said. “We’ll put this one to bed, we’ll watch film, see where we fell a little short and we’ll turn the page.”
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