Wizards Were Unprepared for Warwick; 33-7

The Washingtonville Varsity Football team faced a devastating defeat against Warwick this past Friday. The Wildcats swept up a 33-7 win taking the shot at playoffs. Due to a series of senseless penalties and unsatisfactory play calling the Wizards could not outdo Warwick. At the end of the game senior Bobby Malitz commented “All the kids had the heart tonight but they couldn’t push through the play calling.”

In the first half the Wizards had trouble moving the ball up the field because the majority of their drives were based on running plays. The offensive strategy was not switched up so Warwick was able to stop Wizard attempts quickly on each drive. After going back and forth the Wizards had trouble stopping Warwick’s passes. With less then four minutes left in the half Warwick gained their first touchdown bringing the score to 7-0. The Wizards fought back and the offense finally began to pass the ball and start to move up the field. John DeCourcey threw a ten yard pass to Kyle Oliver gaining the Wizards their first down. On the same drive, Bobby Tansey had a big touchdown run that was called back on an illegal block in the back field. The referees’ absurd call on the play crushed wizard spirits as they then failed to converge on any points and entered the half down by one TD.

When the second half started Warwick quickly scored again. The Wizard’s started to pass the ball more and push into Warwick territory but inane penalties helped Warwick to take over and score again. With more then six minutes left in the third quarter Warwick had a 19-0 lead. On the proceeding Wizard offensive series an array of passes by John DeCourcey to Kyle Oliver moved them to Warwick’s 38 yard line. The Wizards finally scored when a difficult 35 yard pass was caught by senior Dereck Pignatelli in Warwick’s end zone. DecCourcey’s punt was good putting the Wizards on the board, 20-7.

In the fourth quarter, runs from Jimmy Reynolds, Bobby Tansey and Kevin Reilly helped the Wizards bring the ball into Warwick territory. But despite the offense and defense’s best effort the boys were unprepared for the Wildcats. Unprofessional criticizing remarks from the head coach on the side line definitely didn’t help the morale of the team. The Wizard boys lost all motivation. Senior Ryan Baxter explained “The disheartening comments from the coach made it hard for us to focus on the game in the end; that's when I think we really lost our drive.” As the game came to a close, Warwick went on to score two more times ending the game 33-7. By Jackie Fowler