Alvirne football scores twice in third quarter to beat Pelham

PELHAM - Coach Tom Babaian thought the Pelham High School football team had flipped the switch as the second quarter came to a close.

Pelham’s defense, which closed out last season with four straight shutouts, had just denied Alvirne at the goal line to keep a scoreless tie intact heading into the half on Friday night.

Any momentum gained on that stop faded during the break, as the Broncos found the end zone twice in the third quarter and held on for a 14-6 win on opening night in Pelham.

Neither team put together much of a scoring threat in the first half, until the Broncos set up shop on the 7-yard line for first-and-goal with under two minutes to play in the second quarter. The Pythons denied Alex Giuffrida and Kyle Gora - the former carrying the ball on the first three downs for gains of 1 and 4 yards before losing 1 on third down; the latter keeping the ball on fourth down for a loss of 1.

“I thought our guys fought all game,” Babaian said. “That goal-line stand at the end of the first half was tremendous.

“Besides those two touchdown passes they really didn’t do much.”

Those two touchdown passes came in the third quarter.

The first, a 12-yard connection between Gora and Jack Regan with 3:48 to play in the frame, broke the ice. James Bertrand added the point after kick for a 7-0 lead.

The second, set up with great field position courtesy of a blocked punt by Thomas Keegan, had Kyle Boucher laying out and hauling in a 28-yard feed just inside the right side boundary of the end zone. Another Bertrand kick made it 14-0.

Alvirne coach Tarek Rothe second guessed not using similar passing plays during the Broncos second-quarter red zone situation.

“They made great plays,” Rothe said. “We should have done it the first play over here, when we first got near the end zone at the end of the half. We should have thrown the fade, but we tried to do a couple of different things and it didn’t work out.”

In the end, it worked out just fine. Giuffrida made sure of that.

The only big night statistically came from the bruising back with 162 yards on 27 carries - including eight carries on Alvirne’s final 13 plays to secure a victory in the Broncos’ Division II South Conference debut.

“He’s a workhorse,” Rothe said of Giuffrida’s effort. “He’s an absolute workhorse. He played on both sides of the field. He and (Kyle) Gora don’t come off the field. Their conditioning is great. Their effort is fantastic.

“I can count on him to finish the game. That’s why he’s there at the end.”

The Broncos defense stood tall as well, holding the Pythons scoreless until midway through the fourth quarter.

Replacement quarterback Ian Hoey came in for Jake Herrling to start the fourth quarter and would eventually find Colby Travis at the front of the end zone from 12 yards out with 7:15 to play.

It made things interesting, but a botched point after snap only allowed the Pythons to get within eight at 14-6.

Alvirne’s Morgan Williams intercepted Hoey on the Pythons’ next possession, with 2:36 to play and Adam Tice slammed the door shut with a sack of Hoey on Pelham’s final possession in Broncos’ territory with 20 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Well, they finished it,” Rothe said. “We were able to fight. Despite that it was ugly, the effort never ceased. They kept playing hard every play. They made play after play. Defensively, they played outstanding.”