Jericho Varsity Plays Friday Night Football

Friday, 05 October 2012 08:43

Jericho’s homecoming varsity football game was the first game the team had ever played under the lights, when classic Friday Night football came to Jericho. The band was set up and the cheerleaders were rocking when the skies opened up and the rain came down in buckets.

The first series began after a missed catch by the Roslyn receiver that resulted in a first down. Jericho’s defense was up and running and didn’t give any room for the Roslyn offense to get going. Josh Harris has been the running back to stop, banging out one 20-yard run and then another for Jericho’s first score, 7-0. This was just the beginning of the scoring for the evening. The next score, a Chandler Kirby 70-yard touchdown run, was called back due to a Jericho penalty.

The next series would have wide receiver Matthew Nourmand and running backs Harris and Kirby chewing up 39 more yards, allowing Jericho to call in kicker Jake Zorfas to attempt a field goal. He connected on a 33-yard strike to make the score 10-0.

After taking a week off to nurse an ankle injury, Kirby was not just eating up the yards on offense, but also hunting down quarterbacks when he made the first sack late in the first quarter.

With 3:01 left in the first half and the skies clearing, Roslyn went for a fourth down on Jericho’s 30-yard line only to get swarmed by the Jericho defenders. As Jericho took over possession, Harris was running left and right, setting up Kirby for an 18-yard touchdown run to make the score 17-0. With seconds left in the first half, Jericho was not done yet. Greene rolled left and threw across his body, connecting to Nourmand for a 62-yard touchdown catch. At the end of the first half, Jericho led Roslyn 24-0.

The stands were full for the second half and the team gave their fans a great show. Harris was again one of the stars, running for over 145 yards, 65 of which came from a sweep right on the first play of the second half leading to another touchdown. With the extra point good, Jericho was in the driver’s seat at 31-0.

Roslyn took over on offense after the next kickoff, hoping to put together a scoring drive. The drive was quickly halted by Donovan Condon when he intercepted the first offensive play for another Jericho score, making the score 38-0 only two minutes into the second half.

Coach Martinez gave freshman quarterback Chris Rodgers an opportunity to work with the first offense again. Just when Roslyn started to move the ball, the lights went out at Cantiague Park to delay the game for 13 minutes. When the lights came back on, Roslyn had connected for a touchdown pass, but missed the extra point, and the score was 38-6. Roslyn scored another touchdown late in the second half, and made the two point conversion.

 The culmination of the rain, band, TV exposure and darkness made for a great win for Jericho’s first Friday night game, where the team came away with a 38-14 victory. Please support the Jayhawks at their next game on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. at Great Neck North.