By Rob Potter
GLEN SPEY — It didn’t take long for the Eldred football team to score its first touchdown of the 2009 season.
On the first play from scrimmage of last Saturday’s season-opening non-league game between the visiting Tri-Valley Bears and Eldred Yellowjackets at Brookwood Camps in Glen Spey, Yellowjackets’ quarterback Bryan Henry tossed the ball to running back Ian Halloran in the backfield. Halloran then swept around the left side of the line and outran three T-V defenders to score a 57-yard touchdown.
Bob Warden kicked the ball through the uprights for the extra-point to give Eldred a 7-0 lead less than 30 seconds into the game.
The Yellowjackets added five touchdowns and a safety during the next 11-plus minutes to take a commanding 36-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Eldred went on to record a 56-3 victory over the Bears.
Halloran scored three more touchdowns in the game. He rushed for a 3-yard TD, a 4-yard TD and scored the third TD on the first play of the third quarter by intercepting a pass from his linebacker position and returning it 30 yards to the end zone.
Jordan Tice scored a pair of touchdowns for Eldred (1-0), while teammates Shaun Berger and Charles Wolff each rushed for a TD in the first quarter. Wolff scored on a 28-yard run and Berger reached paydirt on a 9-yard run.
The only score for T-V (0-1) was a 33-yard field goal by Ignacio Rios midway through the first quarter.
Halloran led the Yellowjackets’ rushing attack by gaining 191 yards on eight carries.
Tice and Warden also had eight carries each and gained 88 yards and 43 yards, respectively. Henry ran twice for 18 yards.
“We blocked very well today and all of our running backs did a great job,” Eldred Coach Frank Kean said. “The defense was great as well. [Nose tackle] Geno Jones was in the backfield on several plays.”
Kean noted that the game was special for Halloran. The previous Saturday, the senior running back’s mother, Darlene Halloran, suffered an aneurysm and underwent emergency surgery at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
Darlene Halloran was unable to attend the game because she was still recovering at Westchester Medical Center.
“Before the game, Ian said he wanted to win it for his mother and he and his teammates went out and did that,” Kean said. “Ian gets today’s game ball, which everybody signed. He is going to take it to Westchester and present it to his mother.”
In addition to starting the season with a victory, Kean enjoyed the fact that he was able to get all of his players into the game. The veteran coach began substituting his players liberally in the second quarter.
“This was a good win, but we are going to be working hard to prepare for Livingston Manor/Roscoe,” Kean said. “LMR will be tough.”
Kean was referring to the Yellowjackets’ next game, a non-league contest against the LMR Devilcats at 8:15 p.m. tonight in Roscoe.
Leading the T-V offense were junior running back Peter DiMilia and senior running back Matt Bogorad. DiMilia carried the ball 10 times for 63 yards and Bogorad rushed nine times for 33 yards.
Freshman linebacker Brendan Tierney paced the Bears’ defense with 10 tackles. DiMilia made six tackles from his linebacker position.
“We needed to do a better job of moving the ball,” T-V Coach John Rusin said. “We didn’t tackle well today either.
“But you have to tip your cap to Eldred,” he added. “Their line blocked very well and their running backs took advantage of those holes.”
Before leaving the field, Rusin was already thinking about his team’s next game.
“We have to put this behind us and focus on next week,” he said. “We have to improve and be prepared to play Ellenville.”
The Bears will host the Ellenville Blue Devils at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in a Section IX Class C game.