On Sunday, Oct. 7, the Rye Garnets authored another chapter in a dominant stretch against their rivals from Harrison, drubbing the Huskies 41-14 to win the 89th meeting between the two foes. Behind a blistering passing attack led by sure-armed quarterback Declan Lavelle, the Garnets were able to top the Huskies for the 16th time in their last 17 attempts, improving their overall record in the long-running series to 44-42-3.
Lavelle was sharp early on, connecting on two of his first three pass attempts for touchdowns and leading the Garnets to a 21-0 first quarter lead. But after Harrison climbed back into the game following a kickoff return by Justin Altamuro and a pass by Frank Nannariello to Alex Siapanides in the third quarter, the Garnets found themselves up just 27-14 in heading into the final stanza. With 10:29 left to play, however, Lavelle connected on a gutsy fourth down pass to Chad Antico to give the Garnets a 20-point lead that all but put the game out of reach.
“Coach Garr has a lot of confidence in us, and we trust him,” Lavelle said. “He just put the offense back out there and we went out and got a big touchdown.”
Lavelle finished the day with 17 completions for 238 yards and three touchdowns and also led the Garnets with 92 rushing yards on 17 carries. Running back Brendan Lavelle, Declan’s cousin, found the endzone ran for two scores to power a Garnet ground attack that attempted 32 rushes on the day.
Harrison’s rushing attack was led by D’Andre Cosby, who carried the ball 15 times for 77 yards.
“I think we had a lot of plays you can turn to in that second half, and we used all of them, especially passing the ball,” said the junior quarterback. “We just beared down, played tough and won the game.”
But while the Garnets might have been able to orchestrate yet another win over their rivals, the celebratory period will have to be short-lived, as Rye and Harrison prepare to square off again next week in the first round of the Class A playoffs. At 5-1 on the year, Rye came away with the No. 4 seed while the Huskies (2-4) are seeded No. 13. Although a time and date have not yet been set for the 90th meeting between the two teams, the game will once again be played at Rye’s Nugent Stadium.
“It feels great, I’m excited to celebrate with my teammates and I’m just happy for everyone involved,” said Lavelle. “But Harrison is a very tough team; we can’t take any plays off and we’re just going to have to prepare and come out ready for next week.”
