Reporter: Frank LaBella
On Thursday, the Eastchester Eagles opened their season suffering a loss at home to the Clarkstown North Rams. With a final score of 33-7, the Eagles never really put up much of a fight against the Rams squad, who were coming off a 29-point victory over the Ramapo Gryphons.
This Eastchester team is a bit on the younger side, with the number of players in the Class of 2027 countable on two hands. It may take a few games for this crew to really click with each other, with some players just getting their first in-game action of their careers.
Many fans or spectators of high school football might check the final score of this game and assume the Eagles had very limited offense, which isn’t necessarily false. The offense was quite stagnant for most of the game, recording its lone points on a promising fourth-quarter drive downfield. This lone drive sparked a bit of hope for Eastchester fans, though. With short passes penetrating the Rams’ defensive zones, the Eagles began capitalizing on swift plays to prevent the opposing pass rush from being a nuisance. Eastchester showed some signs of life offensively throughout the game, despite its inefficiency in putting points on the board. The larger worry this season, which many may not have realized right away, is going to be the team’s rush defense.
Something important to note in this season opener for Eastchester was that all five touchdowns allowed came on the ground. Four different Rams players recorded rushing touchdowns, with Alex Londino leading the charge with two of them. The Eagles had no answer for the “pound the ground” strategy brought forth by Clarkstown North. It is worth noting, at least for the sake of Eastchester, that this was not an uncharacteristic outing for the Rams offense. In their opener against Ramapo, their offensive approach fully relied on the ground game, with 45 total carries for over 500 yards, along with seven rushing touchdowns. The Rams feed off their rushing attack and receive incredible push from their offensive line, a strength that was on full display again in their matchup against the Eagles.
When playing a team so heavily reliant on their run game, a defense really needs to force them into passing, making them complicate their scheme a little bit. Eastchester was simply unable to ever make the Rams feel uncomfortable and kept suffering blows on the ground. The Eagles are going to need to tighten up defensively, especially at the line of scrimmage. If the front four isn’t enough to halt opposing rushers, the linebackers might need to better plug the gaps early. This will be something to watch out for this season, as without preparing more for the rushing attack at the high school level, teams are going to continue to fuel their offensive approach by utilizing their running backs heavily.
