By:Zack Richner
South Side kicked off to start the game, and forced Herricks to punt after one set of downs. The Cyclones took possession of the ball on Herricks' 43-yard line. On the first offensive play of the season, senior quarterback Tom Piselli handed the ball off to senior tailback Ben Britt, who ran all the way to the end zone, giving South Side a 6-0 lead. (The extra point was blocked).
It was just the beginning of South Side's commanding performance. On the ensuing kickoff, Herricks failed to field the ball, thinking it was headed out of bounds, and it was recovered by Cyclones junior tailback Byron Eason on Herricks' 15-yard line. A 10-yard run by Eason gave South Side a first-and-goal, and then Britt, breaking three tackles, scored his second rushing touchdown of the game. After only three minutes of play, South Side led 13-0.
Later in the first quarter, after a Herricks touchdown pass, Piselli connected with senior wide receiver Andrew Kell for 39 of the quarterback's 126 yards. Shortly after the big completion, Eason had a 21-yard touchdown run to give South Side a 20-7 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
In the second quarter, big plays were abundant. Again Piselli connected with Kell, this time for a 55-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter, Eason scored on runs of 20 and 56 yards. At the half, South Side led 41-7.
Each team scored only once more in the second half. Herricks managed a rushing touchdown (and missed the extra point), and South Side scored on junior Andrew Gismondi's 7-yard touchdown run.
"We put in a lot of hard work," Piselli said. "We knew that we'd come out on top." Head coach Walter Denton was pleased with a number of South Side players' performances, most notably those of Eason (138 yards in just five carries, three of them TDs), Britt (127 yards and two scores in 10 carries) and senior linebacker David Villegas (11 tackles).
Piselli, too, was grateful for the play of his tailbacks. "The run was just dominant," he said. "It's great. The run sets up the pass. Many people may think that the strong point of our offense is the pass, but you can see that the run will be strong, too."
Though the Cyclones won easily, Denton identified many areas of their game where improvements can be made. "Some of our defensive schemes didn't work," he said. "We have to keep polishing the apple and keep working at getting better. The object is always to get better. Offense, defense, special teams: there's always room for improvement."
With such a dominant victory, however, does Denton think South Side has a chance to return to the Big Four Championships at Hofstra, where it played in 2001? "Right now," he said, "We're focused on one thing only: Hewlett, our second opponent. We go one game at a time. We don't look past anyone."
