MAHOPAC — Ask Yorktown football coach Pantelis Ypsilantis about quarterback Kaden Gonzalez and his reply comes without hesitation.
"We believe he's an all-state quarterback," he'll say.
And Gonzalez looked every inch just that Sunday afternoon.
Displaying pin-point accuracy and good arm strength, the senior dissected Mahopac's defense in throwing for touchdowns of 34, 20 and 28 yards, and he also ran for a 15-yard score as the Huskers routed the host Wolf Pac 42-7 in a Section 1 Class A matchup
Yorktown, coming off an upset loss to Fox Lane in which Gonzalez was limited to 95 yards passing, improved to 4-2 on the season.
Mahopac, which had won two straight games, is also now 4-2.
Play of the game
In the big picture, given Yorktown's ability to score and its defense - which yielded little from start to finish - a Huskers win might have been in the cards no matter what occurred.
But it became almost a foregone conclusion when Yorktown, already up 14-0, scored twice with little more than three minutes left in the second quarter.
A penalty played a big role in that.
The Huskers were ready to punt on a fourth-and-three from the Mahopac 48 when Mahopac was called for an illegal substitution with 3:20 left in the half. That gave the Huskers a first down on Mahopac's 43.
One play later, Gonzalez hit Brady McEnroe down the right side for a 34-yard touchdown pass.
McEnroe, who was caught in tight one-on-one coverage, reacted to the ball, blowing past his defender who had a step on him, to make the catch.
After Yorktown's defense held, forcing a Mahopac punt, the Huskers took over on their own 37 with 1:16 left in the quarter.
A few plays later, Yorktown pulled off a trick play with running back Tyler Galante taking a handoff, rolling right, but instead of running, passing to McEnroe for an 18-yard gain to the Mahopac 20. Gonzalez then hit Chad Bowen for a touchdown from there. Adam Yakout's PAT gave Yorktown a 28-0 advantage with 23 seconds left in the half.
By the numbers
Yorktown didn't take its foot off the gas until late in the game.
Ryan Schluter's fumble recovery at the Mahopac 38 early in the third quarter led to the Huskers' fifth score.
After a holding penalty put Yorktown back at Mahopac's 44, Gonzalez, facing a third-and-long, floated a pass on the left side to Tyler Caricati for a 29-yard gain. On the next play, Gonzalez called his own number and went in from 15 yards out.
Yorktown's defense subsequently stopped Mahopac on a fourth-and-less-than-a-yard on Mahopac's own 29.
A couple of plays later, Gonzalez hit McEnroe with a 28-yard scoring strike.
Gonzalez's also set up Yorktown's first two scores with his passing, although both came on the ground.
Yorktown's first TD was a Bowen 1-yard run after Gonzalez had hit Johann Moeritz with a 39-yard pass.
That came with 5:53 left in the first quarter.
The Huskers scored early in the second quarter on a Galante 3-yard run that followed a Gonzalez 16-yard pass to James Carney and a Gonzalez 19-yard pass to Galante.
Mahopac finally got on the board with less than a minute to go in the game when quarterback Ethan Dedvukaj hit Ronan Hunter with a 16-yard pass in the far right side of the end zone.
They said it
Gonzalez called his team's final-seconds 28-25 loss to Fox Lane a "wakeup call."
"We can make it far if we dial in and do the little things," he said.
Gonzalez credited assistant coach Brandon Trager for Yorktown's successful passing game against a Mahopac's defense that had shut out Lakeland 34-0 a week earlier.
"I really think if Coach Trager knows it's going to be there, it's going to be there," he said, referring to his receivers being open.
"We're going to be aggressive," Ypsilantis said of his team's approach. "We thought the opportunties were there. Last week we didn't score enough points."
He called Gonzalez "super talented" and said the Huskers' receiving corps "made the plays."
"Just like we trust our quarterback, he trusts his receivers," he said.
Ypsilantis added Sunday's win came after "probably the best week of practice we've had all year."
"It's practice, preparation and trust. . .. I'm mostly proud of our preparation, but I'm also proud of our execution," he said.
(This story has been updated to add new information, photos and video.)
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: Yorktown dominates Mahopac in Class A victory
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