Jake Dressler photo
Barnard School’s football team.
Barnard School and Clemente Academy brought their A‑games to Bowen Field Wednesday afternoon to fight it out for the citywide middle school football championship.
Both schools went 4 – 2 this season prior to the championship.
Barnard scored two touchdowns in the first half of the game Wednesday, then a third in the second half. The team focused on passing and pushing its aggressive offense.
Clemente’s game plan Wednesday was to keep the ball on the ground. James Wright, one of Clemente’s coaches, was nervous about Barnard’s lethal weapon: its quarterback. “We want to make sure we don’t get beat over the top with a pass,” Wright said. “The quarterback is pretty good, and the receiver is good too.”
The Barnard quarterback is Davante Borrego.
“This is his first year as a quarterback,” noted Barnard coach Chris Bosse. “He came to us as an eighth-grader; he had never played quarterback before. He’s getting better and better.”
Barnard focused Wednesday on passing and pushing its aggressive offense. The team scored two touchdowns in the first half of the game Wednesday, then a third in the second half.
Bosse wasn’t celebrating yet; he recalled that three weeks earlier Clemente had defeated Barnard in another game. “A lot of hard work allowed us to do a lot better, according to the score,” he said as his team led 14 – 0. “But we have a lot of work to do ahead right now.”
Bosse could finally celebrate when the game ended with Barnard ahead 20 – 0, and the new state champs. Everyone on the Barnard side was celebrating, while the Clemente team took the defeat in stride and showed some positive spirit (shown near end of the video).
