Highland low

Red Hook varsity football couldn’t find its groove visiting Highland on Sept. 16, falling 20-6 and dropping to 0-1 against Class B opponents and 1-1 overall. Blame it on flow — or lack thereof.

The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 12, but was postponed because of severe weather. Red Hook head coach John Kravic acknowledged that the cancellation left his team a little off-kilter.

“I feel like we lost that rhythm yesterday. We missed Thursday because everything got cancelled, and we came out and had a practice on Friday and a walkthrough on Saturday– so again, that continuity is one of those killers,” Kravic told The Observer after the loss.

It was clear early on that quarterback Nick Carlson was going to have to do some running in the game, after he was tackled and stripped of the ball by Highland defenders, who then ran it in for a touchdown, at 10:01. Minutes later, Carlson walked it in on a draw play to give Red Hook its first and only score after a five-minute possession. But Highland made the quarterback pay for his transgressions; he was sacked three times in the final minutes of the quarter, twice by Huskies defender Patrick Troy.

Red gave up a touchdown in the top of the second quarter, after Highland running back Isiah Daubon ran for a 50-yard score at 10:04. There was nothing doing offensively for the Raiders in the quarter, and Carlson was sacked twice more in a single series.

In their first possession of the third quarter, Red Hook came as close as possible to scoring. Running back John Alessi ran 60 yards, bringing the ball to within inches of the end zone before being brought down. Red Hook was held up twice trying to gut the ball in, received an offsides penalty on fourth down of the series, and was stopped on a sweep, once again, inches away from a touchdown.

Highland scored once more in the game, completing a 15-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Red Hook defensive back William Harris’ nabbing of a wobbly, taken-by-the-wind interception at 9:48 was the last action for the Raiders. Carlson tried to air it out in their final possession, passing on each down, but went four-and-out to close the game.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” said Kravic. “I’m not sure if it was the walkthrough on Saturday; we came out flat. That first touchdown was a gimme. So, just mistakes on our part. Just again, overall disappointed — maybe that big win against Saugerties had us coming in too confident. In the long run, maybe this was a good humility check.”

Facebook Comments

Enjoy having this local, independent, nonprofit news source? Help us keep reporting and become a member today. Already a member? Sign in to get rid of this notice.