Omar Jarrett knew he needed to send a message to his team — and he delivered it load and clear.
South Shore led Kennedy by eight points at halftime, but that just wasn’t good enough for the senior running back. He and his teammates quickly changed the tone of the game on the opening drive after the break. It took just five plays for the Vikings to go 49 yards for the score. Jarrett capped the drive by running over a Kennedy defender on the goal line as he finished his six-yard touchdown scamper.
“I wanted to build up the energy in my team,” said Jarrett, who ran for 88 yards and two scores on 10 carries.
It sparked a string of 21-straight points that led to a convincing 35–13 home victory over the Knights in Public School Athletic League City Conference football on Oct. 16. South Shore, which felt it came out flat in the first half, remains unbeaten with three games left in the regular season.
“We just had to ratchet it up a little bit in the second half,” South Shore coach Matt Ciquera said. “We knew if we could kick it into gear, we would do what we did in the second half.”
It did so by stuffing the Kennedy (2–5) run up front and spreading the ball around on offense. Jarrett scored twice and quarterback Justin Martin threw three touchdown passes, including two to Michael Watson (three catches, 108 yards).
South Shore was in the end zone one play after forcing a Knights’ punt from the Vikings 32-yard line. Watson took a screen pass from Martin 77-yards for a score in the third quarter. Jarrett capped the Vikings scoring in the final frame with a 25-yard run to make it 35–6. Martin, who completed 11 of 19 passes for 212 yards, still didn’t think the unit showed all it could do.
“We do more than that,” Martin said. “That was just a little piece. Just a little taste.”
The teams traded scores on their opening possessions, with South Shore scoring on a pass from Martin to Watson on fourth and 16 to take a 7–6 lead with 6:50 to play in the first quarter. It wouldn’t find the end zone again until Martin connected with Willerm Greffin for a 24-yard score to make it 14–6 with 2:07 to play in the second quarter.
Last Friday’s win keeps the Vikings (7–0) third in the power points and one of three unbeaten teams left in the league, along with Grand Street and Tottenville. The only difference is that South Shore is doing it playing a lower-tiered schedule, because it is in just its second season in the top league.
South Shore, which has beaten opponents with a combined record of 6–36, won’t get a chance to prove itself against the upper echelon this year. Its best game remaining is against Curtis to close the regular season. It doesn’t bother the Vikings not to be recognized as an elite team on par with its fellow undefeateds.
“They have been to Yankee Stadium. They have won city championships,” Ciquera said. “They deserve that respect. We just got to keep working hard around here. If you do that respect will come your way.”
