(Nov. 12, 2009) — The Carlstadt/East Rutherford Junior Wildcats had all three levels of teams in playoff action in Lyndhurst Saturday, Nov. 7. The Pee Wee and Senior squads were facing off against the Lyndhurst Golden Bears while the Junior team played the North Arlington Vikings.

PeeWee Wildcats

The Pee Wee Wildcats had their revenge on the Golden Bears defeating them by a score of 7-0. This was the exact score the Bears had beaten the Wildcats by in a regular season game two weeks prior. The playoff match was a whole new ballgame as the Wildcat defense really held the Bears in check throughout the entire game.

Michael Bolwell and Nico Failla would not allow any big gains on the outside all evening. The Bears inside attack was bottled up by Danny Reyes, Stephen Henke, Jake Miller, Nick Lenoy and Dylan Cortiana. The offense moved the ball well against the Bears with the running of Tyler Salo, Failla and Bolwell but it was Joe Emerson who found pay dirt for the Wildcats from 30 yards out and had his number called to punch in the extra point. The Pee Wee Wildcats are on the road next week to take on the Saddle Brook Falcons in New Milford Sunday, Nov. 15 at 11 a.m.

Junior Wildcats

The Junior Wildcats came up on the short end of a shoot-out with the North Arlington Vikings 38-19. The Wildcats offensively put on a real show in the first half with Giuseppe Giraldo scoring three touchdowns from 45, 55 and 46 yards and also adding the extra point after one of his scores. The Wildcats offense was really clicking for the ’Cats behind the blocking of Rafael Mercedes, Michael Sabia and Jonathan Rengifo. Gianna Failla helped carry the workload running the ball for the ‘Cats. Defensively the ’Cats had their hands full with an explosive Viking offense with Anthony Viso standing out with his performance for the ’Cats.

Senior Wildcats

The Senior Wildcats season came to an end against the Lyndhurst Golden Bears Saturday, Nov. 7 but not before disrupting the bears for most of the first half. The ‘Cats stopped Lyndhurst first few drives with some fine play by Will Black, Joe Viso, Xavier Allen, Nick Barbo, Paul Contreras and Justin Lee. The ‘Cats had two interceptions in the first half with one each by John Pra and Isaiah Stratton.

The ’Cats drove the ball down the field for the first score of the game behind the running of Roy Forys pounding the ball up the middle as Noah Povis took it to the outside. The line that was controlling the Bear defense featured Brianna Chandra, Dylan Lewin, Rafael Medrano, Mark Brizzolara and Gokalp Yerdelen. Povis punched in a Wildcat touchdown from five yards out and Yerdelen added the extra point kick to give the Cats an 8-0 lead.

The ’Cats hope of an upset went by the boards as the team speed of Lyndhurst proved to be too much to overcome with a 26-8 Bear victory.