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Sports

Meyerson Goes Down, Garnets Fall To 0-2

The Rye Garnets fell to 0-2 on the year with a 14-7 loss in the home opener against the John Jay Indians, but more importantly senior captain Jake Meyerson hurt himself in the second half and did not return to the game

Both John Jay and Rye football teams ended the 2010 season in the playoffs, but coming into Friday night’s match up both were trying avoid an 0-2 start to the season.

Rye couldn’t stop the John Jay rushing attack throughout the entirety of the first half, however the Garnets rallied around their backup quarterback and came within yards of tying up the game. The Indians got the big plays they needed on offense early and one huge goal line stop late in the forth quarter to steal a win at Rye.

In the first half the Indians used a plethora of players in the backfield to gain yardage and steal all the momentum away from the home team. On the team’s first scoring drive they used the run to set up the pass and senior Tom Weingarten picked up 25 yards on a reception set up Tyler Keech for a short scamper into the end zone.

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“We didn’t want to stall,” said John Jay head coach Jimmy Clark. “Our offense is a high-tempo fast-paced offense and last week we got that lead and I started too slow down our tempo and it really hurt us and it took us out of our game plan. I said tonight we are staying with our tempo and staying with Jon Jay football regardless, so it was definitely part of the game plan to go go go and look to move the ball and move it fast. “

Keech, Weingarten and junior Jack Lambert got the majority of the touches for the Indian offense and the team went up 14-0 on Lambert’s 4-yard touchdown run right before the half. With Rye’s offense looking stagnant and turning the ball over at an alarming rate, it appeared the game was all but over.

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“They finished, they made their drives and we didn’t finish.” said Rye head coach Dino Garr. “Obviously you can’t make two or three interceptions, two fumbles, and expect to win a game.”

Early in the second half both offenses were able to move the ball but couldn’t put any points on the board. More importantly, while on defense Rye’s quarterback Jake Meyerson hurt his leg and needed assistance when leaving the field. Meyerson would not return to the game and the severity of his injury is unknown but backup Andrew Livingston filled in admirably.

In the forth quarter John Jay fumbled the ball giving the Garnets an opportunity to climb back into the game and Livingston, along with fullback Joe Simolacaj, picked apart the Indian defense and finally put some points on the board as Simolacaj muscled it in from three yards out.

“I thought we did a much better job the second half,” said Garr. “We didn’t change a thing. They made some big plays though, some passes and some other things. We didn’t finish and they finished.”

Rye would get another scoring opportunity late in the forth and brought the ball within the 5-yard line. The Garnets elected to go for it on forth down and on the pitch Simolacaj fumbled the Livingston toss and even though the ball passed the line of scrimmage when it was recovered, it was well short of a first down, effectively ending the Garnet drive and the game.

“That goal line stand was tremendous,” said Clark. “It shows a lot of character for this team to deal with some adversity last week and lose a tight game like that and then come back and face that same situation but to buckle down and win the game. Awesome.”

Rye will head to Ossining on Friday night and look for their first win, while John Jay will look to keep their momentum going Saturday night against Lakeland.

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