A midseason stop before heading down playoff lane proved an easy stroll for New Utrecht High School, who rolled over Brooklyn Tech 36-20, with senior halfback Alex Warden in the driver’s seat last Saturday.Utrecht came into the game with playoff aspirations and a 3-2 record with seven games left in the regular season. Looking to build on last year’s success, Warden led the team’s offense Saturday with two rushing touchdowns. The Utes started out strong on the opening drive and on 3rd and inches from the 10, Warden scored on a short run, and they were later up by eight on a successful two-point conversion.Coach Alan Balkan sought to give carries to both running backs and establish the running game early as they had a combined effort of 330 yards on the ground, and 398 yards total. Senior fullback Dion Collins also contributed to the running game with over one-hundred yards and a rushing touchdown, and Utretcht cruised to an 36-20 victory over Tech. The Utes improved to 4-2 while Tech’s Engineers dropped to 2-4.
Tech head coach Jim Dibenedetto gave credit to Warden, the city’s leading rusher, who ran 201 yards on 11 attempts on Saturday, explained why his team couldn’t overcome the 16-point deficit.
“The defense broke down when we couldn’t stop No. 20,” Coach Dibo explained. Despite the win, Balkan credited the Tech coach for a tough comeback attempt in the face of a near-slaughter.
“Our approach was to stop the run, not make mistakes, or cause turnovers, and we came out 36-20. Tech was 2-3 coming in they could easily be 4-0 they have a really good football team and good coach”.
Utrecht’s defense was strong in the first half, and even though they were up the entire game they got a little tired down the stretch. Tech senior fullback George Rowen scored on a 93-yard kick return on what looked like a draw play where all the blockers on special-teams pushed the kicking team to the right and he scampered through a hole on the left-side waiting for blocks to open up.
That was followed by more offense as both teams went back and forth on long-scoring drives. The Engineers scored 12 in the 3rd quarter and the Utes scored 14, and both teams matched each other for six in the fourth quarter.
The Engineers’ two offensive leaders, Collins and Warden, also led defensively making their presence felt on both sides of the football. Warden had 14 tackles, and Collins had 10 (including one for a loss) to compliment the tandems defensive showing, and get the offense going.
” We had the same motto as we always do which is refuse to lose. “We had the passes dominating the runs and we kept them off balance with the running game,” said Warden who was also fourth leading rusher in the city last season. “I had alot of pressure I wanted to get better, I just let loose worry about high school and just play like every play is my last play and win for the team and coaches.”
