Section 1 football: Joseph runs for two second half TDs as Suffern tops Mamaroneck

MAMARONECK  — Suffern's Jeph Joseph is a legitimate track star.

If the Mamaroneck football team didn't know that before Thursday night's football game, it does now.

Suffern defeated host Mamaroneck 21-7 in Class AA action. Joseph ran for second-half touchdowns of 10 and 45 yards for the Mounties (3-3).

Mamaroneck, who lost starting quarterback Kieran Jacobson to an injury late in the second half, fell to 4-2.

Play of the game

Suffern broke a 7-7 tie, taking the second-half kickoff and going 82 yards for the score.

Fifty-two of those yards belonged to Joseph, who ran for five of them on a fourth-and-four and then went in untouched from 10 yards out following another Suffern fourth-down conversion.

That one was huge as, on a fourth-and-seven from Mamaroneck's 21, quarterback Mason Polombo scrambled for 11 yards.

Finnegan Mitchell's second of what would be his three PATs followed, putting the Mounties up 14-7 with 3:56 left in the third quarter.

By the numbers

Joseph, a senior who plans to pass on college track to pursue only football, certainly gave collegiate scouts some good video to review.

He carried 29 times for 272 yards.

Seventy-one of those yards came on one fourth-quarter carry. It followed his 13-yard carry after Mamaroneck's Brady Smith had pinned Suffern back on its own 2 with a beautiful punt.

Suffern squandered Joseph's huge run, which had gone to the Tigers 14. its drive ended with an incomplete fourth-down pass from Mamaroneck's 19 following two offensive penalties.

Behind some good runs from sophomore Matt Lebowitz, who finished with 116 yards on 16 carries, Mamaroneck subsequently moved the ball to the Suffern 33.

But its drive stalled there and with Mamaroneck facing a fourth-and-six from the Suffern 36, Suffern's Shane Staulcup pulled down Mamaroneck's Henry Bohn in the backfield with 5:40 left to play.

Despite everyone on the field and probably even in the crowd knowing who was going to get the ball, Mamaroneck couldn't stop Joseph after that.

Jospeh took successive direct snaps for three and eight yards before getting a third direct snap and taking off untouched on his 45-yard TD scamper up the right sideline.

Whatever slim hope of a miracle comeback remained for the Tigers after that ended when on a fourth-and-six from Suffern's 31, Tigers backup quarterback Henry Kelly was sacked by Suffern's Ethan Lee.

Mamaroneck had actually drawn first blood.

Capping a drive that was aided by a pass interference call, Jacobson, who was later hurt being taken to the turf on a quarterback keeper that resulted in a first down, carried the ball in from nine yards out.

Jacobson's short night saw him carry seven times for 40 yards. He was three for nine for 13 yards passing.

Kelly, seeing his first action at QB this season, went two-for-three passing for 17 yards.

Suffern scored at the very end of the first quarter with Polombo finding Jake Tarrant with a pass in the left side of the end zone from 29 yards out.

Polombo finished four-for-six passing for 46 yards.

They said it

Jacobson summed up his feelings about the game by looking at Joseph and declaring, "He's the best player in the section."

Joseph didn't appear to be listening.

Instead, he credited his offensive line for his success, saying, "With an O line like that, it's easy to make plays."

Of his team's play in the second half, he added, "We just turned it up."

While noting multiple players had contributed, Suffern coach Daniel Muller noted Joseph, a varsity player since his freshman year, had matured and is now seeing the game differently, making him a "key piece" of Suffern's success.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, girls basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy .

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Section 1 football: Joseph runs for two second half TDs as Suffern tops Mamaroneck