Rams beat Poughkeepsie to make playoffs in wild, season-ending homecoming game
October 25, 2023 at 11:34 p.m.
The football Rams took on a new look as the boys in black instead of Port Chester's traditional blue and white, the familiar one-two punch of sophomore quarterback Alexis Morel and junior fullback John Pauletti clicked once again, baseball catcher Scott Sullivan made a clutch TD catch in the end zone to put the game away and the Rams made it into the upcoming playoffs last Saturday (10/21) during the regular season finale with a 23-6 homecoming game must win over Poughkeepsie.
But the outcome left a bitter aftertaste because there was an unruly post-game crowd fight as the Pioneers came up the steps of John Ryan Stadium. They were heading for the waiting bus at the exit to take them home while the Rams remained on the field, taking a knee while the coaches gave them their concise, precise yet emotional upbeat post-game analysis with an emphasis on the playoffs ahead.
Post game melee
Here's where things got blurred because as the Pioneers exited the stadium, somebody said something, maybe it was somebody in the hometown crowd, maybe it was a Poughkeepsie player, but whoever it was, somebody took a swing, a fight erupted, the local cops intervened, and a Port Chester student was taken to the hospital to be treated.
Police have a video taken during the incident and are seeking additional information. And the Rams are prepping for their upcoming playoff game against Tappan Zee away Friday (10/27) at 6:30 p.m. under the Friday night lights, a replay of the Rams’ horrific 40-0 loss to Zee, same place, same time, on an unlucky Friday the 13th of October.
This time around the Rams hope for a happier ending.
Setting the stage
While nobody knows what will happen next, a lot happened pre, post and during the Poughkeepsie game leading up to the rematch against Zee.
Because the play's still the thing, let's set the stage and start with what happened during the Rams-Poughkeepsie game before getting into the various sub-plots leading up to the final curtain.
For openers, a lot was at stake.
The post-season football playoffs were on the line.
It all came down to the regular season finale, win it and the Port Chester football Rams would make it into the upcoming playoffs, lose it to Poughkeepsie and the Pioneers were in instead.
So a lot was riding on the outcome of Saturday's wet and wild homecoming game. And the Rams rode their ground-and-pound game all the way into the playoffs.
The Ram standouts
The Rams football team celebrates on the field after beating Poughkeepsie in their homecoming game last Saturday (10/21), sending them on to the playoffs.By Lennon Anderson
Pauletti and Morel alternated power runs with QB keepers to score the Rams’ first two TDs less than four minutes apart in the first eight minutes of the first quarter. The Pioneers came right back to score going into halftime and came out with a new quarterback to start the second half with three consecutive completions and Poughkeepsie players with names like Ariel Son of Sam, Woody Amir and Jalen Lee suddenly looking like the best players on the field. Especially after Lee made an acrobatic one-handed catch at midfield.
But then the Rams’ Jayden Arbusto made a key interception, derailing the Poughkeepsie TD drive. And Morel hit Sullivan with a 23-yard TD pass to give the Rams breathing room at the end of the third quarter. And that's where it stayed with both teams slugging it out, toe to toe, and Pauletti making a diving tackle that quite possibly ended the Pioneers’ potential scoring drive.
Behind the scenes
It didn't help any that Poughkeepsie kept undermining themselves with costly offsides and illegal motion penalties, at least 14 at last count.
And it certainly helped that the Rams were hanging tough, cashing in with 50 rushes for 356 yards gained on the ground, 23 in the air, with Morel (156 yards) and Pauletti (121) getting most of them, while Sullivan made the clutch catch for the game-icing TD.
But a lot was going on behind the scenes in the Rams’ trenches and defensive backfield.
Arbusto made that game-changing interception. Sophomore José Lopez played a strong inside linebacker. Senior Jonathan Delcid kept making jolting open-field tackles. Pauletti, Carlos Palma, Alejandro Velasquez and Jaden Barbour were the heavy hitters on offense and defense. Marc Adens Dorsainvil played tough at strong safety. Pauletti and Lopez both scored on two-point conversions. Quarterback Nate Provencher and speed back Dorsainvil added variety to a Rams attack that had Provencher taking a knee at the Poughkeepsie 20-yard line with time running out and Port Chester driving for a TD. And Brian Aguilera, the Rams’ ace kicker and O-and-D standout, kicked an extra point. He had to be carried off the field after an injury in the first half yet came out to kick off again in the second half, only to be helped off the field limping a second time.
In brief, the Rams came to play and left it all out there.
The boys in black
And head coach Chris Halstead deserves a strong assist.
Because in an emotional ploy to motivate his Rams, he secretly ordered those new brown and black uniforms to give his hardworking team a lift, with only Delcid, one of his captains, in on what was going on. Halstead had Delcid wear the new uniform to a team meeting Thursday (10/19) just before the homecoming game. And the team went wild.
"The team's reaction was priceless," Delcid said. "They couldn't believe it. We love the new uniforms."
And it showed.
Because between the traditional homecoming game rose ceremony honoring the football seniors and cheerleaders (see accompanying box), the halftime show featuring Port Chester's nationally acclaimed marching band playing the New World Symphony, and the home crowd behind them, the Rams played like a new, revitalized team against Poughkeepsie.
So the Pioneers were stewing after the final curtain came down because they had come close to tying the Rams until those two potentially tying TD bids were thwarted by their own mistakes and those Pauletti and Arbusto tackles and that Arbusto interception.
The back story
It had been a long bus ride from Poughkeepsie to Port Chester on what started out as a cold, wet, raw, blustery day with the alternately heavy rain and drizzle ended by game time. So the weather was just brisk and miserable by the opening kickoff and the Rams came out like there was going to be no stopping them from the get-go. Until the Pioneers rode the hot hand of their sub quarterback to get back into the game only to sabotage themselves with those penalties and interceptions. So, as the Poughkeepsie players came up the steps exiting the stadium post-game, they were wet, tired, muddied and disappointed and somebody in the crowd must have said something that lit their fuse because suddenly a fight broke out that led to an assault. That, in turn, led to the Port Chester and Rye Brook police officers on the scene to separate those fighting and restore order. But not before a Port Chester student was hurt and had to be treated at a local hospital.
Police have a video taken during the incident and are now seeking any additional video that witnesses may have. And the lowest-seeded Rams are looking for a playoff turnaround against the top-seeded Zee in their upcoming game Friday at 6:30 p.m. under the lights at Tappan Zee High School, 15 Dutch Hill Rd., Orangeburg, in Rockland County. The Rams will have to play lights out to have a shot in the one-and-done playoffs. But stranger things have happened. Just look at what happened against Poughkeepsie. Including the sun finally coming out with four minutes left to play.
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