By DAVID DEGUZMAN
Everything seemed to be in place for the Stuyvesant Peglegs, the boys’ varsity football team, to win their season opener. The five sets of bleachers set up were filled to capacity as the cheerleaders performed cheers and dance moves. The Peglegs were finally playing at a field they could call home as they kicked off shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday, September 7.
Despite the stage being set, the Peglegs could not live up to the hype as they lost to the Spartans of John Adams High School, 22-8, in Stuyvesant’s first home game at Pier 40.
The Peglegs faced a team that was demoted from a higher division. John Adams finished 0-9 last year in the City Championship/Bowl Division. Now in the Cup Division, the Spartans brought with them a high level of experience. “We knew that this was going to be one of our three hard games,” said coach Brian Sacks.
The Spartans scored three unanswered touchdowns while senior and Peglegs’ quarterback Shafi Alam threw four interceptions, despite completing 17 of 35 passes. John Adams also committed seven sacks and 39 tackles altogether. Although the Peglegs were able to get 117 more yards on offense than the Spartans, Stuyvesant was able to score only one touchdown ran into the endzone by senior Amos Dai in the fourth quarter.
Senior James Morrissey said, “I don’t think we were aggressive enough during practice. We don’t practice like it’s a real game. We just lollygag.”
When asked if anything went right during the game, Morrissey said, “Not really, no.”
Sacks had a different opinion. “[Alam] made some bad plays. But [he] also made some very good plays near the end of the game,” said Sacks. “Our running game picked up in the second half. For us, we need to take what we did in the second half and expand on that for our next game.”
If there were any positives, it appeared to be the unprecedented fan support for the Peglegs. With live commentary by senior Kelvin Yeung, free refreshments and a halftime show, both provided by the cheerleading squad, there was little reason not to take the ten minute walk to Pier 40 from Stuyesant High School.
Senior and Peglegs’ cheerleader Rachel Sullivan said, “It felt great. We never had this before. We didn’t expect that many people.”
Fellow senior and cheerleader Sara Yoon was very elated to see the bleachers packed throughout the entire game. “We really appreciate crowd support,” said Yoon. “We can’t do anything about the team’s ability to win. But we can do something about encouraging team support.”
Two more games will be held at Pier 40. On September 28, the Peglegs will face Alfred E. Smith High School. Then on October 26, the Peglegs will complete the three-game series at Pier 40 when they play Lafayette Educational Complex High School.
At both of those games, senior and cheerleader Sylvia Ko hopes the fan support continues.“We want them to come back,” said Ko.
For the Peglegs, there are nine games left for them to achieve their goal. “The goal remains the same which is to make the playoffs,” said Sacks. “We think we’re easily a 5-5 team. With two or three good wins, we can be a 7-3 team.”