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O'Hare's Gamble Pays Off in John Jay-EF Win
Tom O’Hare is only two games into his head coaching tenure at John Jay-East Fishkill. But he’s already learning that, sometimes, you have to listen to your players.
O’Hare’s trust in senior standout Brendan Ercoli paid dividends in Thursday’s thrilling 6-3 win over Carmel. The Class AA showdown came down to a critical juncture where John Jay had the ball on its own 40 with 1:28 remaining. If they converted a first down, Carmel did have a timeout left and the game would be over.
“Initially, we sent our guys out there to get them to jump offsides,” Indians coach Tom O’Hare said. “They’re a well-coached team and they didn’t jump. I called for a punt and Ercoli jumped in and said ‘There’s no way I’m not going to get that yard.’ Then the linemen got into it and my assistants said to go for it.”
Ercoli muscled his way just part the first down marker, allowing the Patriots to kneel out the remaining time and walk away with the victory.
Ercoli finished with 105 yards rushing and a first-quarter touchdown for John Jay-EF, which improved to 2-0 with the victory.
“We did a tremendous job defensively,” O’Hare said. “Carmel has some great receivers, and we did a good job containing them. No none of our guys had big stats or a lot of tackles. We were just played great team defense in a hard-hitting game.”
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