West Hempstead High School's Varsity Football team dominated the competition Saturday to secure a victory at homecoming.
The Rams beat the East Rockaway Rocks 35-12 to advance their conference record to 5-1. The Rams took a 21-0 lead over the Rocks in the first half of the game with touchdowns from senior Tayvon Hall, Bruce Gibbs and QB Michael Petrizzo.
Enrique McFarlane, who had 119 yards for the day, ran 50 yards to score another touchdown for West Hempstead in the third quarter. Three minutes later Bruce Gibbs scored his second TD of the game. West Hempstead's kicker nailed all five of his extra-point kicks for the day.
"We're a little bigger and a little faster than them and we were able to out-physical them. That's really what it came down to," Rams Head Coach Dom Carre told Patch when asked what worked for his team.
As an alum of East Rockaway, the match-up was a bit personal for Carre.
"Coach Vito was my coach in high school," he said. "Even though we are in the same conference and we play each other, he still helps me. That's just a credit to the person he is."
Speaking about the evolution of Tayvon Hall, Carre said, "His sophomore year, no one knew who he was so he came on and exploded ... as a junior, he got hurt halfway through the year, and now everyone knows who he is but he's still doing his thing he's having a great season."
Carre's other standout players include QB Michael Petrizzo, Bruce Gibbs, Enrique McFarlane and Danny Nijuko, but he says "the whole group, offense and defense," is getting the job done this season.
"We got a good group of core seniors, a good group of juniors who work hard ... This is the outcome of all that work," he said.
But Carre said he's still not ready to crack a smile, adding, "The goal is to win a championship and we'll just keeping taking one game at a time."
The Rams still have to play Locust Valley and Roosevelt, who they are now tied with for second place in Nassau's IV Conference.
"Roosevelt beat us up real bad last year," Carre said. Don't think I didn't forget that."
Click through the gallery above to see photos from the 2012 West Hempstead High School Homecoming game and click here to view coverage of this year's parade.
