Peekskill Red Devils bedevil grid Rams 38-8 at home in wind & rain of a tropical storm

September 28, 2023 at 12:17 a.m.

Port Chester’s John Delcid (#6) runs out to make a block versus a Peekskill defender in last Saturday’s 38-8 loss to Peekskill under trying weather conditions. (Lennon Anderson/Westmore News)

Ohio State edged Notre Dame with a TD run in the last seconds of the game, Louisiana State University eked out a razor thin win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in the same way, albeit with a kick, Marist beat Valparaiso by scoring a TD on a run in the first play in overtime, Florida State University defeated Clemson with a touchdown pass to start overtime, Port Chester scored on a 22-yard pass from Nate Provencher to John DelCid with 58 seconds left to play and José Lopez scored on the two-point conversion to put an exclamation point on those hard-to-come-by points for the Rams.

All of this happened at various times and places across the country last Saturday (9/23) except for an essential difference—Port Chester is the only high school cited. While all the other games were close collegiate contests, Port Chester's was a blowout, albeit in the wrong direction and not just because Tropical Storm Ophelia was raging.

The few highlights

The Peekskill Red Devils beat the Rams 38-8 at home—Port Chester's only points coming with less than a minute left to play.

That lone TD and conversion were among the few Ram highlights in a game that gave new meaning to the expression when it rains it pours.

The game was played in such cold, wet, miserable conditions that it was impressive there were any highlights at all.

In a setting bordering on the abysmal, the game was played in alternating heavy rain and drizzle, the soggy overcast sky stirred by heavy and light winds gusting with lots of chills and spills. And while pigs didn't fly, the pigskin football bounced in unpredictable directions.

      

The sky didn't fall, but the Rams did.

The crowd was sparse and equally wet, raincoats, slickers and umbrellas prevailed, and gulls rode the wind currents like they were having a ball while both teams stoically and gamely battled the elements as well as each other.

And yet the equalizer was that both teams played with the same wet ball.

The better mudders

Peekskill just played better. Maybe because they were the better mudders in the long run. It was still a ball game after the first half with the Red Devils leading 16-0 at the half, both of their scores coming towards the end of the first and second quarters. But Peekskill's superior numbers took their toll in the second half because the Red Devils outnumbered the Rams by something like 53 to 31 players, most of those fleshed out Peekskill numbers bigger, heavier and more opportunistic than their Rams counterparts. The outsized roster numbers factor contributed to the way the Red Devils bedeviled the Rams with power runs up the middle—five of their six TDs coming that way with unintentional help from the Rams.

When the Rams tried the same kind of runs, they were hit and hit hard, so hard that there were fumbles with at least three of those fumbles leading to Peekskill touchdowns early and late.

When the Rams didn't fumble, strange things happened. And not just because Port Chester's best offensive player John Pauletti was missing in action—Pauletti was hurt, didn't practice all week and was used sparingly, almost entirely on defense, and that meant the Rams’ offense was missing their battering Ram because Pauletti is their leading power runner and scorer and without him their ground-and-pound-game was virtually non-existent.

Pauletti wasn't all that was missing.

Coach Halstead speaks up

"We cannot execute a lot of things we spend a lot of time on in practice," Rams head coach Chris Halstead said after the game. "I am going to have to re-evaluate and change things up."

That became all too apparent when the game got completely away from the Rams at the start of the second half.

In what was a Rams first in almost two decades of watching, the Port Chester kicker ran right past the ball on the kickoff, or so it seemed, because a gust of wind apparently blew the ball off the tee, leading to a Red Devils recovery that, in turn, led to a quick TD.

It was not the best way to start the second half in a game that saw the home team already down 16-0 after fumbles led to Peekskill TDs with about two minutes left to play in both the first and second quarter.

In a second first, the Rams lined up on the wrong side of the field and play had to be whistled dead before a kickoff.

And on two consecutive kickoff returns, the ball bounced off a Ram kick return team player's chest, almost like he was a designated target, necessitating a dive to recover the ball rather than any runback, meaning the Red Devils usually got the ball in good field position.

So things weren't going well for the local mudville team.

'Ugly and getting uglier'

"It's ugly, and getting uglier by the minute," a spectator said as the game progressed.

Unfortunately, he was right. Because no matter how hard the outmanned Rams tried, they couldn't catch a break. But they did try. Hard. The two Jaydens—Barbour and Arbusto—seemed to be in on every Ram block and tackle. Delcid kept bucking the tide on runs through holes that weren't there. And once the Rams fell behind, they had to resort to a passing game that resulted in "rainbows" because the passer didn't have time to set up and throw so the passes were more wishful thinking than on target. But the Rams never quit and showed lots of heart in the way they kept playing with that never-say-die attitude and determination coming to life in the spirited play of Alexis Morel, Marc Dorsainvil, Scott Sullivan, Anthony Escobedo, David Escobar, and others.

As the clock mercifully ticked down towards the endgame, a Port Chester grid aficionado asked: "Think we're going to score?"

"Not likely," somebody else responded. "Not if you're watching the same game I am."

But fortunately, the naysayer proved wrong.

Live and learn

The Rams did score. In the last 58 seconds. With that pot of TD gold coming on that late rainbow pass which was better late than never.

So the Rams are a work in progress. And at least they are playing, albeit in a developmental independent league for struggling programs, while crosstown the Blind Brook Trojans aren't. Because Section One turned down Blind Brook's plan to merge their football program with Hastings, meaning the Trojans’ season has been canceled. Because Blind Brook couldn't come up with enough players to field a football team. But Port Chester has enough student-athletes to stock a varsity and junior varsity roster as well as a modified team. So at least the Rams can look forward to better days ahead starting Friday (9/29) away against Spring Valley at 6 p.m. under the lights. Next comes two more away games in Rockland County beginning next Friday (10/7) at 3 p.m. against Ramapo followed by another Friday night lights game scheduled for Oct. 13 against Tappan Zee at 6:30 p.m. The regular season home finale is scheduled for Oct. 21, a Saturday Homecoming Game, at 1:30 p.m.

After that, who knows—there could be a playoff game in the Rams’ future. At least they have a football future. And they aren't the only team making mistakes. In arguably last week's biggest college game, Notre Dame didn't have the right number of defensive linemen on the field with only 10 defensive players out there for the goal line stand for the final two plays of the game instead of 11 and Ohio State ran right through the spot where that missing player should have been for the winning touchdown with one second left to play.

So even the big-time college players make mistakes in the biggest of big-time games. The idea is to live and learn. Even if you have to learn the hard way. Including whether the Port Chester-Peekskill game should ever have been played in such cold, wet, abysmal weather conditions.