Dramatic Finish for Harvey School's Football Team

By Chris Del Campo

Cavaliers Gain Tie on Late TD

Harvey’s football team battled visiting Dwight-Englewood School of New Jersey Saturday to a 24-24 tie in a contest between two evenly matched teams.

It was all Harvey early on as the Cavaliers scored three touchdowns in the first six minutes of the game. Two senior captains got Harvey rolling on the first play from scrimmage when quarterback Tom Smith hit wide receiver Mike DePass for a 50-yard pass. Three plays later junior Rafael Tapia scored on a two-yard sweep. On the next possession, Smith hit junior Sam Bocklet of Cross River in the left flats and Bocklet ran down the sideline untouched for a 72-yard TD. Harvey failed on the two-point conversion each time, however.

DePass helped Harvey extend its lead to 18-0 on a punt return. After stopping the Bulldogs on their next possession, DePass fielded a punt, bumped into his own blocker and then rocketed down the left sideline for a 63-yard TD. The Cavaliers could not make the two-point conversion once again.

The momentum shifted to Dwight-Englewood for the rest of the first half. When Harvey was called for three consecutive penalties late in the first period, the Bulldogs took advantage, scoring on a 26-yard TD pass. A successful two-point conversion made the score 18-8. Dwight scored twice more in the second period on TD passes of 28 and 33 yards. With Dwight making the two-point conversion each time, Harvey trailed at halftime 24 –18.

• Click here for Hudson Valley high school football results and schedules

The second half was the complete opposite of the first. It was a defensive battle as both teams punished the other and neither team came close to scoring. The Cavaliers stopped Dwight twice on fourth-down plays in Harvey territory but the offense could not get untracked. It was the play of the defense that helped Harvey even the score. With eight minutes left DePass intercepted a Dwight pass over the middle and ran 12 yards for the game-tying TD.

Both teams fought hard to break the tie but to no avail and darkness denied the two teams the chance for a sudden death win.

Smith had a great game before getting hurt, completing four passes for 153 yards and a TD. Junior Teddy Little rushed for 64 tough yards, and DePass scored two TDs and amassed 233 all-purpose yards.

Senior captain Javen Stepp-Davis led the defense with eight tackles and a forced fumble, and Little had seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Senior Jordan Washington had six tackles, DePass and Tapia had five, and senior captain Joe O’ Connell and sophomore captain John Sullivan had four tackles each.

Girls Varsity Soccer Stays Undefeated

Harvey’s varsity girls soccer team improved to 4-0-1 Friday, Oct. 2, after defeating Montfort Academy 3-0 at home in monsoon-like conditions on newly-dedicated Stark Field.

The Lady Cavs came out of the gate putting constant pressure on Montfort’s defense and testing their goalie early. Harvey opened up its scoring halfway through the first half on a shot from freshman Charlotte Levy, beating the goalie with a rocket that hit just inside the far post. “It was a goal scorer’s goal. Perfectly placed and she got all of it,” said Harvey coach Greg Janos.

Junior JoJo Greenwood’s effort and follow through earned her the second goal after she stole the ball and beat two crashing defenders with a smartly placed shot to the short side of the goal, giving Harvey a 2-0 lead.

Harvey continued to keep the pressure on in the second half and when senior Aila Prieto scored the third goal by following a cross-field shot from Levy and redirecting it passed Montfort’s keeper.

Coach Janos had high praise for Prieto. “Aila’s goal was well-deserved. She never gave up on a play that for a second seemed to be over. She found a way to be in the right place and was there to tuck in the shot.”

Harvey Boys Lose in Home Soccer Match

Harvey’s boys varsity team fell to 3-2 on the season Wednesday, Sept. 30, with a 2-1 home loss to St. Luke’s School.

The Cavaliers came out confident in the first half, moving the ball well and controlling possession. At the five minute mark, senior captain Drew Homola took aim from 25 yards out on a free kick and powered a nicely placed ball passed the St. Luke’s goalkeeper and into the back post to give Harvey a 1-0 lead.

The game turned into a physical battle as both sides played stingy defense. Harvey’s back four of Rohan Harrison, Colin Nardi, Adam Penino and Tyler Levy denied the St. Luke’s forwards any room to create scoring chances. Harvey coach Alex Morse said it was his team’s best defensive performance of the season. St. Luke’s would tie the game before the half when a Harvey defender cleared the ball and watched it carom off a St. Luke’s forward past a diving Zack Goligoski who couldn’t make the save.

The second half saw more physical play as both teams fought hard for the go ahead goal. Kevin Dorf was all over the field for Harvey, both defending and creating scoring opportunities for the Cavs.

With less than 10 minutes to play, Harvey was whistled for a foul in the box, a call Coach Morse called “questionable.” St. Luke’s converted the kick giving the Storm the lead that would hold up for a road victory as Harvey couldn’t mount any pressure during the remaining minutes of the match.

St. Luke’s outshot Harvey 9-8. Goligoski made seven saves in front of the net for the Cavaliers.

Boys JV Soccer Nets First Win

Harvey’s JV boys soccer team Thursday, Oct. 1, notched its first win of the season, a 2-1 back and forth contest against JFK that featured a frenzied 80 minutes of play on the Cavaliers’ home field.

Neither squad could dominate possession as the ball bounced back and forth from one defensive end to the other. Freshmen Alex Kaplan and Quentin Schubert scrambled to clear each JFK drive up the middle, as junior Ethan Alfandary and sophomore Chris Brennan manned the defensive sides. Sophomore Ian Macari, who had three saves during the game, was solid in front of the net. The Cavaliers earned more offensive chances than JFK, sending shots just wide or high of their goal. Harvey took advantage of its opportunity when sophomore Omar Coca took a direct kick and sent the ball soaring over the defense and past the keeper to put the Cavs up 1-0 at the half.

Aggressive play from both sides continued in the second half, but with the lead and confidence, the spirited Cavaliers began to control the game. A JFK foul enabled Coca to set up Nick Szymanski for a beautiful shot that blasted past the opponents and into the net, extending the Cavalier lead to 2-0. JFK would not be put down, however, responding immediately with a drive up the middle, catching the Cavs and Macari off guard to cut the lead to 2-1. A furious few minutes ensued as both sides battled mightily for control, but when the clock ticked its final second, the Cavs on top, taking their first victory of the season.

Harvey Rally Falls Short in Volleyball

Harvey’s varsity volleyball team had an uphill battle Wednesday, Sept. 30, when a slow start against a strong St. Luke’s team put the Lady Cavaliers in a 2-0 hole. Harvey rallied and took the next two sets before coming up short in the fifth and deciding set.

After losing the first two sets by scores of 25-11 and 25-16, Harvey showed some great resilience and turned the contest into a very close match by winning the next two sets with scores of 26-24 and 25-22. The visiting St. Luke’s team then won the tiebreaker set, 15-10.

Harvey’s middle hitters Sasha Fox and Sara Steinberg, along with outside hitters Jordan Carnan-Raimey, Kat Pantginis, Kylene Groff and Safia Gecaj controlled the net. Captains Tessa Knorr and Emily Sirota and Talene Boyajian handled the setting chores while Claudia Smith, Ava Cohn and Danni Qu did the passing. Fox notched six aces. Steinberg had five. Danni Qu chipped in with two while Smith and Gecaj had one each.

Fox, who collected three digs and four blocks, also led the team with five kills while Steinberg and Knorr each had one. Carnan-Raimey made two key blocks to help keep Harvey in the match.

“We hope to take some of the lessons learned into our next match,” said Harvey’s coach Dave Ketner.

Harvey’s record fell to 2-5.

Meanwhile, Harvey’s JV team also suffered a defeat at the hands of St. Luke’s, losing both sets by identical scores of 25-13.

Harvey’s Tillie Glucksman and Sabrina Huang both made some excellent serves and kept their team in the game for a while during the second set.

In their next game, Thursday, Oct. 1, the JV volleyball team gave New York School for the Deaf a scare, but the visitors prevailed, taking both sets from the Lady Cavaliers by scores of 25-18 and 25-22.

NYSD held a comfortable lead in the first set until Harvey sophomore Yulanda Huang went on a tear midway through the first set, collecting five consecutive points on serves to get the Lady Cavs close. Huang’s efforts were not enough, however, as NYSD held on to defeat Harvey in the first set by seven points.

Harvey rallied during the second set to stay within one to two points the entire set. Sophomore Sabrina Huang came close to finishing off NYSD in the second set, scoring six points for Harvey.

The JV Lady Cavs saw their season record fall to 2-4.

Photo: Harvey’s Mike DePass takes a knee in the end zone in one of three TDs he scored Saturday, Oct. 3 in a 24-24 game against visiting Dwight-Englewood School. Photo credit: David Newman Photography