FOOTBALL PREVIEW SUFFOLK I | HAPPY HE’S THEIR VALENTIN

Sarra, Gregg. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 01 Sep 2013:

6. LONGWOOD

LIONS

2012 record: 3-5

Coach: Aden Smith, 2nd season

KEY PLAYERS

Isaiah White

RB/LB, 5-11, 200, Jr.

Dashawn Taylor

RB/DB, 5-10, 190, Sr.

Matt McKeon

QB, 6-3, 200, Sr.

Darrell Jones

WR/DB, 6-0, 170, Sr.

ABOUT THE LIONS

Although they missed the playoffs last year, Smith and the Lions got a preview of good things to come with from White. The running back scored 9 touchdowns as a sophomore. Taylor added four touchdowns. The coaching staff is excited about McKeon and his potential at quarterback.

Northport 28, Longwood 22: Brett Hall ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns and added two sacks to lead Northport. Hall’s 7-yard score in the third gave Northport a 28-15 lead. Connor Quinn completed 8 of 11 passes for 192 yards in the win. Sept. 12

N — Cannon 30 run (kick failed)

L — McKeon 1 run (Harders kick)

N — Mauro 7 run (Shorey kick)

N — Safety (Punter tackled in end zone)

L — Jones 20 pass from McKeon (Reddick pass from McKeon)

N — Hall 1 run (kick failed)

N — Hall 7 run (Shorey kick)

L — Taylor 70 run (Harders kick)

Longwood 20, Half Hollow Hills East 7: Luke Soriano’s 10-yard touchdown with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter gave Longwood a 20-0 lead. Soriano’s six yard run in the first quarter put the Lions on the board first. Dashawn Taylor ran for 102 yards and scored on a 20-yard run in the third quarter. Antonio Scala made seven tackles to lead Longwood (1-1) in Suffolk I. Sept. 22

L — Soriano 6 run (Harders kick)

L — Taylor 20 run (Harders kick)

L– Soriano 10 run (kick failed)

HHH — Bockelman 1 run (Feldman kick)

SUFFOLK I: Sachem North’s Service steps in

Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 29 Sep 2013

After Trent Crossan went down with an ankle sprain with six minutes left to play in the first quarter, Sachem North backup quarterback Anthony Service went 3-for-3 passing for 108 yards and a touchdown to lead the Flaming Arrows to a 49-32 victory yesterday over Longwood in Suffolk I.

Service also rushed for 40 yards on 12 carries and a score. Crossan didn’t return and is listed as “day-to-day,” North coach David Falco said. Malik Pierre’s 46-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Flaming Arrows (3-0) a 21-6 lead at halftime. Pierre had 15 carries for 182 yards and a score. Sachem North rushed for 532 yards. Dashawn Taylor’s two 30-yard TD runs in the second half led Longwood (1-2). Sept. 29

L — Jones 77 pass from McKeon (kick failed)

SN — Pierre 10 run (Morris kick)

SN — Pierre 46 INT return (Morris kick)

L — Taylor 30 run (run failed)

SN — Bragaglia 8 run (Morris kick)

L — Taylor 30 run (run failed)

SN — Service 1 run (Morris kick)

L — Taylor 2 run (Turner kick)

SN — Bragaglia 75 pass from Service (Morris kick)

L — Jones 88 KOR (Turner kick)

Commack 35, Longwood 14: Senior Matthew Recek had five catches and set career highs with 174 yards receiving and three TDs to lead Commack (4-0). Willy Monroy ran for 59 yards, threw for a TD, caught a scoring pass and returned an interception 21 yards for a score in the win. Rob Paccione threw for 249 yards and two TDs, Christian Costello had two sacks, Josh Valentin made 14 tackles and John Engberg had five stops. Longwood is 1-3. -Oct. 6

C — Monroy 21 INT (Holscher kick)

C — Monroy 3 pass from Paccione (Holscher kick)

L — Reddick 85 kickoff return (Harders kick)

C — Recek 29 pass from Munroy (Holscher kick)

C — Recek 65 pass from Paccione (Holscher kick)

C — Recek 25 pass from Paccione (Holscher kick)

L — Jones 17 pass from McKeon (Harders kick)

Longwood 13, Sachem East 0: Isaiah White ran for 204 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries to lead Longwood (2-3) over Sachem East in League I. White had missed the first four games after injuring his hip during the preseason. Oct. 13

L — White 1 run (Harders kick)

L — Stowe 1 run (kick failed)

Just call him a Gentile giant

Sarra, Gregg. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 20 Oct 2013:

The cut on the bridge of his nose was bleeding long after the game had ended. And Mike Gentile‘s forearms were bruis- ed and battered. If forearms could scream, well, they would be screaming.

Gentile, the rugged middle linebacker at 5-feet-6, played like a giant yesterday as Connetquot held off Longwood, 22-14, on Homecoming day before more than 2,200 fans in Bohemia.

Gentile led a defense that swarmed one of Long Island’s top halfbacks, Isaiah White, and slowed the Lions’ ground game to a crawl. Both Longwood touchdowns came by the pass.

Gentile finished with 13 tackles, including three for a loss and also had a key fumble recovery at the Connetquot 4-yard line with 1:18 left in the game.

“Look at our middle linebackers and we’re all five-foot-nothing and it doesn’t matter,” Gentile said. “That’s who we are. And we play as a unit.”

Gentile, Chris Beal and Mike Grimaldi were all over the Longwood running game. Each of them knifed their way into the Lions backfield for big stops.

“We wanted them to come out and set the tone,” Connetquot defensive coordinator Mike Konsevitch said. “And our defense runs to the ball well and what we lack in size we make up in ferocity.”

Connetquot (5-1) forced five turnovers. The first came on the opening kickoff when Jack Richardson stripped the ball carrier and Sean McKean recovered at the Lions 17.

Four plays later, Marcus Gutierrez scored the first of his three TDs on a 3-yard run. Peter McKasty added the extra-point kick and the T-Birds led 7-0.

“We can’t turn the ball over against a good team and expect to win,” Longwood coach Aiden Smith said. “We turned it over on the opening kickoff and twice on their goal line.”

Gutierrez added to the T-Birds lead when he scored on a 2-yard run up the middle with 1:22 left in the first quarter. Quarterback Rick Hahn threw the two-point conversion pass to Chris Seeback for the 15-0 lead.

“I follow my big brother Josh [Gutierrez] right to the end zone,” said Gutierrez, who finished with 79 yards on 22 carries. “The offensive line has been the key.”

Longwood (2-4) cut the deficit just before the half. The Lions drove to the Connetquot 16 and on fourth down and goal apass interference penalty in the end zone moved the ball to the 8.

Quarterback Andrew McKeon hit Serenity Bishop with an 8-yard scoring strike on the next play with 22 seconds left. Chris Harders added the kick to make it 15-7 at the half.

Connetquot extended the lead early in the third quarter as Gutierrez capped a nine-play, 56-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run for a 22-7 lead.

“We were moving them off the ball,” T-Birds guard Sean Moore said. “It was very physical up front.”

Longwood answered with a 12-play, 82-yard drive punctuated by a McKeon to Darrell Jones 20-yard scoring pass to make it 22-14 with 8:42 left in the game.

Longwood’s defense forced three punts in the final 5:58. But the T-Birds’ defense was just as good. Moore, who had 11 tackles and a fumble recovery, forced a fumble that was recovered by McKean.

On the Lions next possession, McKean stripped White at the T-Birds 4 and Gentile recovered. “We were hitting their backs low and flying to the ball,” Gentile said. “Once our guys were on them, we were trying to strip them.”

Longwood’s final gasp came after a shanked punt went out of play at the T-Birds 16 with 24 seconds left. McKeon lofted his pass for Jones in the back of the end zone but a leaping Hahn intercepted to seal the win.

“Great game to win,” Gentile said. “We battled.”

It showed all over him.

Longwood 42, Brentwood 7

Isaiah White had 80 yards on 15 carries and scored two TDs, including a 31-yard run in the third quarter for Longwood (3-4). Matt McKeon completed 11 of 13 passes for 211 yards and a TD and Glenn Reddick caught four passes for 100 yards and a score. Oct. 30

L — White 1 run (kick failed)

L — Bishop 42 fumble return (White run)

L — Reddick 15 pass from McKeon (run failed)

B — Hall 2 run (Torres kick)

L — Marshall 34 run (Reddick run)

L — White 31 run (Reddick run)

L — Taylor 80 run (run failed) Oct. 27

Floyd 21, Longwood 6: Halfback Chris Faison had 21 carries for 121 yards and a touchdown to lead Floyd (6-2). Quarterback Eric Brust finished 5-for-9 for 115 yards and a touchdown and ran for 49 yards on 10 carries. Faison scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter and Brust hit Elijah Rios for a 7-yard touchdown to send the Colonials to a 14-0 halftime lead. Vinny Labate sealed the victory when he returned a punt 60-yards for a touchdown with just over four minutes remaining. Longwood is 3-5.- Nov. 3

Nason puts on show in wind He has pair of TD catches and two interceptions in quarterfinal Hahn (169 yards passing) and Gutierrez (211 rushing) add to fun

Sarra, Gregg. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 09 Nov 2013: 

Tyler Nason turned the second half of a close Suffolk I football quarterfinal into his personal highlight reel last night, catching third-quarter touchdown passes of 40 and 44 yards and snaring two interceptions as Connetquot beat Longwood, 33-6, before a crowd of more than 1,700 in Bohemia.

The second-seeded T-Birds (8-1) will host Sachem North or Brentwood in a semifinal. Sachem North is the only team to beat Connetquot this season.

The T-Birds reeled off 33 unanswered points, including 27 in the second half to snap a 6-6 halftime tie.

“I was getting behind the secondary, but the wind was tough,” said Nason, who gained 90 yards on three receptions. “The coaches trusted Ricky [Hahn] to make some great throws in heavy wind.” 

Hahn was 8-for-13 passing for 169 yards.

Longwood took a 6-0 lead on a 4-yard run by Isaiah White (147 yards rushing, 29 carries) with 51 seconds left in the first quarter.

Connetquot used an 11-play, 63-yard march, all on the ground, to tie it, with Marcus Gutierrez punching it in from 4 yards with 5:16 left in the half.

“Longwood was stacking the box in the first half so we changed out of the two-back set and went back to our base offense with one back,” Connetquot right guard Jimmy Oliver said. “And that opened things up.”

The offensive line, led by center Josh Gutierrez, guards Oliver, Sean Moore and Kyle Johnson, and tackles D.J. Gallino and Rob Dawson, gave Marcus Gutierrez plenty of space in the second half. He rushed 39 times for 211 yards, including 106 after contact.

“He’s so hard to bring down,” coach Mike Hansen said. “He just keeps his legs moving and driving forward.”

Hahn’s 44-yard strike down the middle to Nason and Mike Grimaldi’s two-point conversion run made it 14-6 with 5:28 left in the third quarter. With 24 seconds left in the third, Nason made a spectacular 40-yard TD reception against double coverage for a 21-6 lead.

“It was great to contribute,” Nason said. “We’ve been running successfully all year, so it was nice to get the ball in the air, too.”