It wasn’t a pretty game, but it was a win — and that was the only thing the Erasmus Hall football team was concerned with.
The Dutchmen defeated Grand Street Campus 20–0 at the Aviator Sports Complex on Sept. 9, getting a bit of revenge after falling to the Wolves in last year’s city championship.
“It’s a great way to start the season,” Erasmus Hall coach Danny Landberg said. “Everything is always a little sloppy when you first come out of camp and you’ve got to get used to playing a real game, get used to the refs, and get all the rust out and the cobwebs off. But a win is a win and we’ll take it.”
The Dutchmen’s defense set the tone of the game early, shutting down Grand Street at the two-yard line as Zhadane Peters recovered a fumble to keep the Wolves out of the end zone. The first-quarter play set Grand Street back on its collective heels and gave the Erasmus Hall defense some much-needed confidence.
“We expect that from them,” Landberg said. “It’s been a work in progress, and we’ve been a little bit down on them lately. But they really rose to the occasion, the cream really rose to the top today.”
Erasmus Hall got on the board in the second quarter with Oniel Stanbury’s three-yard touchdown run and, from there on out, it was all Dutchmen as the squad settled into a rhythm.
“We’ve had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Landberg said. “We want to make sure we get these guys to do their job and make sure they can regroup from where they left off last season. We’re proud of their job today.”
Andrew Howell — a transfer from Curtis — padded the Dutchmen’s lead heading into the half, dancing into the end zone from nine yards out to make it a 12–0 game at the break.
“I just wanted to get it done,” Howell said. “We were looking at it like it was a regular game on our road back to the championship. This was just regular football.”
Erasmus Hall was far from perfect down the stretch.
The Dutchmen punted on both of the team’s third-quarter drives and racked up a handful of flags — including a pair of false starts on the squad’s opening possession in the second half. The team refused to let the miscues alter its focus, however, and the response after the mistakes was as impressive as the win itself.
“It’s just what we do. We always fight back,” Howell said. “It’s the way football is played. If you mess up, just pick yourself back up and don’t wait on it.”
Grand Street did its best to battle back in the fourth quarter, but the Dutchmen’s defense stepped up once again. Tyrese Patterson picked off Wolves’ quarterback Dylan Campbell midway through the quarter to preserve the shutout.
Erasmus Hall put the interception to good use — Howell capped off the ensuing drive with his second touchdown of the night, a six-yard rush that cemented the Dutchmen’s victory.
It wasn’t a perfect victory, but it was a notch in the win column and, right now, that’s all Erasmus Hall wants. One game in the books and, now, the Dutchmen are ready for the next challenge.
“Every single game is just as important as the one you played,” Landberg said. “This is just a game that we had to get out of the way and it’s on to the next one. We’ll take the next team we play as serious as the first one.”
