Bronxville Homecoming This Week; Football to Face Pelham After Defeating Pleasantville in Season Opener
Photo by J. Murrer.
By J. Murrer and S.Q. DeJoy
Sept. 18, 2024: The Bronxville School celebrates Homecoming this week with lots of games and festivities.
The Broncos will be playing under the lights at Chambers Field throughout the weekend, and on Thursday night there will be food trucks and a community pep rally. It is early in the fall season, and the athletes have been working hard.
Photo by J. Murrer
Below is a look at how the teams have fared in the last week.
Football
Bronxville opened its season last Friday night with a win over rival Pleasantville. While both teams showed some opening day jitters with penalties and fumbles, the Broncos settled down and handed the Panthers their first home loss since 2021.
Bronxville, who won the Class C Sectional Championship last year, moved up to Class B this fall. Pleasantville also had a winning season last year and was the Class B Sectional Runner-up after losing to Rye in the sectional finals.
“Being able to make the jump back up to Class B is definitely going to take a lot of work and preparation,” said senior Co-Captain Danny Kelty. “Pleasantville always has a very solid program with lots of talent and coaching, and we saw it as an opportunity to really showcase our team and show that we can compete in Class B as well.”
In last week’s game played on Pleasantville’s home field, the Panthers were first to score early in the game, but the Bronco defense settled down and held the Panthers scoreless for the remainder of the game. The Broncos scored their first touchdown in the second quarter on a run by senior Davis Patterson and went on to score four more to win the game 33-7.
“Obviously, there were a lot of rumors and doubts about Bronxville not being able to compete against teams like Pleasantville, but we really wanted to take this early opportunity to show that we could,” said Kelty.
Patterson went on to score two more touchdowns in the game rushing for 162 yards on 22 carries. Junior Brian Formato scored one touchdown on 10 carries for 86 yards, and senior Alex Napolitano also ran one in for the Broncos. Sophomore quarterback Theodore McMurray completed 8/13 passes for 109 yards, and Wyatt Gravier contributed on defense with an interception.
Both the offensive and defensive lines had a big part in the Bronxville win.
“Overall, both the D and O lines were dominant in this game,” said senior Co-Captain Matthew McSherry. “Pleasantville is a good program and a staple of their team is having tough linemen. I think it was a very good test for our line that has some young kids stepping up who really performed well. I think we set the tone very early, and Pleasantville couldn’t really rally back because we didn’t let the pressure off. But it also helps a ton on the line when you have dominant backs like Davis Patterson and Brian Formato.”
Starting on the offensive line are seniors McSherry, Jack Preusse, Henry Frigon, junior Kieran O’Neil, and sophomore Henry Scholes. Kelty and McSherry, along with juniors Harry Estrada and Walker Moore make up the defensive line.
The Broncos have 38 players on the roster including 19 seniors and many returning starters. The depth of talent really showed in the win over Pleasantville. This year’s captains include Kelty, McSherry, Patterson, Napolitano, Gravier, Frigon, and Jack Gangemi.
“Class B is definitely one of the most talented and potential-filled classes in the Section,” said Kelty. “I have complete confidence that Bronxville has the weapons and talent to beat any team in Class B, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to execution and being able to make plays on game day.”
The Broncos will play Pelham on Saturday night at Chambers Field. Pelham is 2-0 with a 21-20 win over Class C Dobbs Ferry in their season opener and a 21-7 win over Class B Byram Hills last Friday.
Field Hockey (3-2-1)
In the last eight days, the girls’ field hockey team has played four games coming away with three wins and one loss. They defeated North Salem (6-2), Croton-Harmon (9-0), Scarsdale (5-0, and lost to Pelham 3-2 on Monday. The Broncos joined the LoHud Power Rankings this week at No. 10. They played a game under lights against Ursuline yesterday and will face a tough Pleasantville team away on Friday at 4:30. Pleasantville is currently undefeated with a 5-0 record.
Boys’ Soccer
The boys’ soccer team is 5-1 after securing a 3-1 win over New Rochelle on Monday. Last Saturday, they defeated Valhalla 5-0 to win the Broncofest with Kane Christian being named tournament MVP. The Broncos have two games during Homecoming weekend. They will play Woodlands (1-1) on Friday night at 6PM and Dobbs Ferry (3-2) at 1PM on Saturday.
Girls’ Soccer
The girls’ soccer team will play their Homecoming game against Dobbs Ferry at 7PM on Thursday. Dobbs Ferry is undefeated with a 6-0 record. The Broncos have had a light schedule so far this season having only played two games against Section 1 opponents. In the last week and a half, they defeated Westlake 2-1 and lost to Eastchester 2-1.
Cross Country
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams competed at the Regis Invitational last week. The meet, hosted by Fordham Prep, featured more than 380 runners from across the metropolitan area. Maddy Williams ran the 2.5-mile Van Cortlandt course in 16:27.0, placing 4th in the 1A race and 6th overall. Carina Winiecki placed 8th in the 1A race in a time of 17:10.8 and placed 21st overall.
On the boys’ side, Matthew Jensen placed 7th in the 1A race in a time of 13:54.8 and 20th overall. Other notable Bronxville finishes included Julian Gonzalez who placed 24th in the 1A race in a time of 14:19.2, and Nate Deutsch who finished 26th in a time of 14:20.1. In the freshman race, James Conlon placed 30th in 9:50.80.
The Homecoming schedule is below.
