Bears Football Battles Early, Falls to Fox Lane, 34-21

BREWSTER—The Brewster High football team managed to keep things close in the first half at Fox Lane last Friday, trailing just 14-7 at the break, but the Foxes took care of business in the second half by scoring three touchdowns to post a 34-21 League A-North victory.

The Foxes, now 6-0, head into this week’s playoffs. Brewster, 2-4, will travel to Yorktown to face the Cornhuskers Friday at 7pm. A win, and another win next week, would put the Bears in a DeMatteo bowl game. A loss at Yorktown, and Brewster will have just one more game to play, a non-bowl matchup to be determined.

The Foxes struck early in Friday’s game, scoring in the first on a sevenyard run by Sean Jones, and they went up 14-0 on a seven-yard TD scamper by Matt Manjunki.

Brewster got on the board in the second, and with a bit of luck. QB MJ Garrity handed off to Trevor Smith, who then lofted a pass toward Garrity in the end zone. The ball went into the hands of a Fox Lane defender, but then deflected right into Garrity’s grasp for an unlikely touchdown.

Jones scored again in the third on a wide-open, 59-yard pass play from Jesse Hunt, but Brewster again stayed close, thanks to a 10-yard TD run by Smith.

But in the fourth, the host sealed the victory with two more scores. Karanja Elliot (167 yards) scored on a one-yard pop to make it a 27-14 game, then TJ Hallack picked off Garrity and raced 35 yards to the end zone for another six points. After the PAT it was 34-14.

Kamal Johnson scored on a 70-yard run for Brewster’s final points of the night.

Smith finished with 95 yards and a TD on five carries, and he also had a fumble recovery, an interception and a TD pass. Tyler Hanson added 80 yards on 14 carries. Garrity finished 4-for-15 for 30 yards and was intercepted three times – twice resulting in Fox Lane TDs.

Stu Meissner forced a fumble, Dan Santiago had eight tackles, Joe Rubino had a sack and 10 tackles, and Garrity had a sack.

“We saw some good things, but ultimately, we didn’t win the game,” Bears coach Don Polverari said. “We were in position, but too many mistakes. Defensively we gave up a couple of big plays. They blocked a punt for their first touchdown, and the turnovers…it’s hard to win like that. But the kids played hard. It was 14-7 at halftime, and we were in a position to be competitive. Smith was doing everything for us, he had a real nice game. And Tyler also had a good game, he ran hard. On defense, Meissner, Santiago, Garrity, Smith, Rubino.. they all played well.”

Brewster travels to take on Yorktown Friday at 7pm. The Cornhuskers (3-3) lost to Lakeland last week.