White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Tigers Fight Flags, File Saunders, 14-6, on Good Hands of Mr. Lee

White Plains High School won its fourth straight football game in the autumnal palette of Parker Stadium Saturday with Jeff Lee scoring both touchdowns.

Evan McGuire gave us a WPCNR exclusive report on the Tigers latest win Saturday crediting stalwart defensive play for shutting down Saunders except for one 60 yard TD pass play in the first half.

Saunders tried a pitch back to one of their runners on their very first possession in the first quarter. They were not ready for Jeff Lee, the F-14 fighter jet that patrols linebacker for the Tigers, on routine sortee.

Air Strike!
Lee roared into the backfield in his best Lawrence Taylor imitation and picked off the pitchback. He was off! Off to paydirt racing 70 yards to light up a “6” on the scoreboard in the North End. Saunders came back in the first quarter on a 60-yard pass, missing the point to make it 7-6. “It was real close (after that) the whole game,” McGuire reports. “We caught a couple of breaks. Nobody wanted to give up. We contained them a lot on defense.”

Scoreless second half.

The Tigers scored again late in the first half on a third down from the Saunders 22 yard line, when Darrell Mack hit “Mr. Lee” on a quick snap slant pass over the middle. Lee executed has fearless turn and catch and turned on the afterburners. He left the secondary in his wake for a 13-6 lead, plus point and the Tigers were up, 14-6 at the half.

McGuire reports the Tigers failed to put away Saunders in the second half having a touchdown called back because of a hold in the 4th quarter. He said it was a penalty filled game that prevented either offense from getting things going. Spectators at the Parker bowl were loudly critical of the officiating the entire game.

Lee saved the game picking off a pass in the last two minutes to stall Saunders' drive for the equalizer.

Credits coaches for turnaround.

McGuire said that Coach Santa Donato and his staff “have good ways to motivate everybody. After our first two losses, our goal was to run the table. Everybody wants to get better and win every week. The coaches want to teach and motivate us to get better.”

White Plains, thanks to an offense that seems to come up with big plays when they have to, and a defense that consistently stops drives has turned its season around. WPCNR asked McGuire about the outstanding open field tackling and pursuit the Tiger Dee has used to contain explosive offensives.

“He who tackles most tackles best.

McGuire credits the outstanding open field tackling we’ve seen to practice, “We’ve had a lot more emphasis on the fundamentals this year. We’ve done a lot of repetition on tackling. We have a defensive pursuit drill every practice.”

McGuire admires Jeff Lee with “finding ways to shake tackles.” Asked about the passing game, produceing some great clutch plays, mostly to “Mr. Lee,” McGuire says, “We wish we did not have to pass. We like to pound the ball in. When we’re blocking and running well, we don’t need to pass. We like ball control.”

Next week the Tigers are at home to play Lincoln, a game that was postponed from September at 1:30 PM.

At halftime, the White Plains High School Band entertained and spectators were complimentary about their forming a formation, described as a big “W” on the field, and the "Big Ten" sound of "Great Balls of Fire."


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