On a crisp Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, the sun was shining on the Grand Street Campus football team. Putting the finishes touches on an undefeated season, the Wolves beat Erasmus 28-26, sealing the PSAL final in the house that George Steinbrenner built. After losing to Lincoln last season in the playoffs, Grand Street has been nothing short of sensational and they now have the championship hardware to prove it.
Earlier in the season, Grand Street had beaten Erasmus 40-12 back in October, but this rematch was much more competitive. However, despite the close score, this contest did not go down to the wire, as Grand Street was able to run out the clock by running the football with their star running back, Rahmel Ashby, who finished the game with over 20 carries and 116 rushing yards. Ashby had been red hot, last Saturday, he also managed to have over 100 yards in a big win over Curtis.
Ashby though is a under cloud of controversy right now because he is facing charges in Brooklyn Criminal Court. It was in April of 2014 when he was arrested for attempted murder charges, and then just before Halloween of last year he was arrested for gun possession. Following both arrests, Ashby was released on bail. Apparently here in New York City, the Department of Education does not have the authority to intervene on matters relating to criminal charges for students.
Controversy aside, this was a great football game to watch and it was physical from the first whistle until the last second. And Erasmus has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. This team showed up with a lot of heart yesterday, exhibiting that they could compete and perform at the championship level. Remember, they got blown out by Grand Street earlier in the year and yesterday was proof that this team had drastically improved over the last couple of months. They had many more ups than downs in 2015, and while they lost a tightly contested game to end their season, football pride should be extremely high right now for the Dutchmen of Erasmus Hall High School.
Finally, there was a great story that arose from yesterday’s game. Grand Street’s head coach, Bruce Eugene became the first African-American coach to win the PSAL Championship.. Eugene has done a tremendous job here in Kings County, helping establishing his team as one of the city’s elite Winning football games is just part of the backbone for how Eugene has built the foundation for his program, because he puts so much hard work and emphasis on getting his players into the right schools so that they can compete at the next level. Eugene has proven that he is now one of the best high school football coaches here in New York City. Yesterday was the ultimate validation and his team is now bringing the championship trophy from the Bronx and back to Brooklyn.
