The coaches in Division I all agree that any one of seven teams can grab the title. Floyd and Sachem are the favorites. Floyd is very talented and seeded second but has no depth. That doesn’t bother coach Tony Cachia who said his team is the most talented in his eight years and carries no “dead wood.” Senior linebacker Rob Feise, the recipient of the Bob Collotta Award given to the premier linebacker in Suffolk, and two-way junior tackle John Papadakis will lead the defense.

Top-seeded Sachem returns third-year starting tackles Jason Maher (6-4, 240) and Dan Del Orfano (6-4, 240). Tailback Sean Brennan (5-7, 170) and fullback David Kramer (5-9, 180) will run behind those bookends. “There are many good teams, but Floyd is the team to beat,” Sachem coach Fred Fusaro said. And to Fusaro’s distaste the first seed in an 11-team division travels to play at the second seed. In other words, Sachem will go to Floyd in the second week of the season. “We’ll show up,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect.”

Neither does Lindenhurst coach Rich Biancaniello. The school is on its fifth year of austerity but Biancaniello keeps churning out winners. The Bulldogs return nine starters, including senior linebacker Joe Parmentier, senior nose guard Keith Morgan (6-0, 225) and senior tackle Chris Vardaro (6-0, 227). Brentwood replaced interim head coach Matt Fauvell with Vincent DeRiggi, an assistant for 20 of the past 22 years. Senior tackle Carl Matzen (6-4, 260) and leading scorer senior tailback Felipe Sabino (5-6, 160) are back. Patchogue-Medford is seeking its first playoff spot in six years. Others in Division I are Connetquot, Northport, Longwood, Smithtown and Ward Melville. Sept. 18

Smithtown 6, Longwood 3: Lenny Lupo threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Matt Cutalo to give Smithtown a 6-0 halftime lead. Smithtown drove 80 yards on eight plays, keyed by Lupo’s 20-yard run. Lupo hit Cutalo on third-and-8 at the Longwood 40 for a key 10-yard play. Defensively, Smithtown forced four turnovers and recovered three fumbles. Smithtown’s Shane Rogan and James Santora had eight tackles apiece. – Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 25 Sep 1994

Longwood 27, Commack 6: Dan Darienzo ran 55 yards for a touchdown on the fifth play of the game four minutes into the first quarter. Brian Grazidei’s 40-yard pass to Tom Dunn set up Darienzo’s second touchdown, a 9-yard run with six minutes left in the half. The touchdown capped an eight-play, 70-yard drive. Four Longwood running backs combined for 310 of the 380 yards of total offense. Longwood‘s defense held Commack scoreless until the last six seconds when Mike Zossler threw a 45-yard scoring pass to Denir Panava. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 02 Oct 1994:

Sweet Redemption Frole pays back Longwood with INT to seal Lindy win: [SUFFOLK Edition]

By Mike Candel. STAFF WRITER. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 09 Oct 1994

Mark Frole had lived with the memory of that November day, that bone-chilling afternoon last year when Lindenhurst lost the Suffolk Conference I football title to Longwood.

What made it worse was that Longwood had picked on him. Ran at him and passed over him. Singled him out as a wet-behind-the-ears sophomore linebacker who was the weak link in Lindy’s defense.

So for nearly 12 months Frole waited. Sure, there were going to be other big games on Lindenhurst’s schedule this season. Ah, but Longwood was different. It was inescapable. Whenever Frole thought about 1994, he thought about Longwood.

Yesterday, it was payback time.

With less than four minutes left and Longwood driving for what could have been the winning touchdown, Frole intercepted Brian Grazidei’s pass and ran 60 yards to score and put an exclamation point on Lindenhurst’s 28-14 victory.

“They kept running up the gut, up the gut,” Frole said, “so I was looking for them to changeup and throw. I had the ball all the way.”

No one had a bigger smile than Lindy coach Rich Biancaniello as Frole rambled toward his second touchdown of the game. “I felt so sorry for Mark last year,” he said. “Longwood kept going at him because he was a sophomore. Hey, you can’t blame them. It was smart football. That’s why I feel so good for Mark today.”

“The difference was big plays,” Longwood coach Kevin McCarthy said. “They made them, and we didn’t.”

Lindenhurst (3-1) got big plays from several sources.

There was Frole’s first touchdown on a 21-yard pass from fellow junior Jimmy Connelly, and Charlie Egar’s extra-point that put Lindy ahead 7-0 with 4:54 left in the first quarter.

There was Joe Parmentier, whose 70-yard touchdown run on a double-reverse gave Lindy a 14-7 lead with 5:02 left in the opening half on the first play after Longwood‘s Dan Darienzo scored from the 5 to tie the score at 7.

There was the 27-yard TD pass from Connelly to Danny Oleaga 2:46 into the fourth quarter that broke a 14-14 tie and put the Bulldogs ahead to stay.

And, of course, there was Frole’s interception in the waning minutes to halt a drive that had taken Longwood (2-2) from its own 20 to Lindenhurst’s 33.

“Everybody in this conference has talent,” Biancaniello said, “so you have to have something else to win. You have to have character.”

Although Frole displayed an abundance of that quality, Parmentier clearly was Lindy’s bulwark. The 6-1, 225-pound senior was the Bulldogs’ best player on offense, powering his way to 139 yards in 14 carries and was the best defensive player, too. Time and again, he stuffed Longwood‘s inside running game from his right inside linebacker position.

“Joe is a Division I talent,” Biancaniello said. “He’s so strong that you don’t think he’s quick, but he runs a 4.57 (40-yard dash). Once he got through the line on the double reverse, he was gone.”

Ironically, Parmentier didn’t think he was going all the way on that play.

“I thought they were going to catch me,” he said, laughing. “I got an absolutely great downfield block from Keith Morgan. That helped.”

But with all of Lindenhurst’s good work, Longwood still could have won.

The Lions gained possession after Oleaga’s TD and Eger’s third extra-point gave Lindy a 21-14 lead with 9:14 remaining. Eleven plays and 47 yards later, Longwood had a first down at Lindy’s 33 with 4:53 left. If the Lions could get a touchdown and a two-point conversion, it would be a storybook ending for the capacity homecoming crowd. However, a holding penalty against Meyer on the next play put the ball at Lindenhurst’s 43. “We were on the move,” McCarthy said. “If we didn’t get that penalty . . .”

On first-and-20, Grazidei took the snap and dropped back to pass. But Lindenhurst linebacker Greg Tajalle came pouring in and grabbed Grazidei around the leg. As the Longwood quarterback was falling to the ground, he threw a desperation pass toward the right flat. “I wanted a sack,” Biancaniello said, “I was disappointed he got {the pass} off.”

Then Biancaniello saw Frole intercept the ball and begin his glorious charge toward the end zone. The coach laughed at the recollection. Said Biancaniello: “I wasn’t disappointed anymore.”

T-Birds Flying High: [SUFFOLK Edition]

Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 16 Oct 1994:

Connetquot opened a 20-0 halftime lead and posted a 27-0 victory over Longwood yesterday in a Division I football game. Connetquot (4-0) seized sole possession of first place, while Longwood, the defending champion, dropped to 2-3.

Connetquot scored on its first possession when Keith Lamb capped a nine-play, 70-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. The drive was keyed by a 43-yard pass play off a fake punt on a fourth-and-10 play from the Connetqout 30-yard line. The Thunderbirds extended their lead to 13-0 when Danny Hayes scored on a 10-yard run. Linebacker John O’Connell set up Hayes’ touchdown run when he recovered a fumbled punt at the Longwood 10. O’Connell finished with 14 tackles.

O’Connell added three receptions for 63 yards and a 1-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter for the final margin.

Floyd 14, Longwood 9: Rob McClure’s 8-yard run three minutes into the third quarter gave Floyd (3-3) the lead for good, 6-3. Longwood opened the scoring on a 20-yard field goal by Jarrod Rostorn in the second quarter. Longwood (2-4) had to settle for the field goal after having a first-and-goal inside the Floyd 10. McClure’s scoring runs of 8 and 6 yards in the third and fourth quarter, respectively, gave Floyd the lead. Rob Feise had 15 solo tackles and John Papadakis had 11 tackles and three sacks to lead the Floyd defense. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 30 Oct 1994:

Longwood 48, Northport 0: Longwood scored seven touchdowns on the ground, including a 75-yard run by Danny Darienzo in the second quarter, for a 21-0 lead. Longwood (3-4) took a 15-0 lead in the first quarter on a 37-yard run by Mike Rodriguez and a 19-yard run by Barry Stanek. Northport is 0-8. Newsday, Combined editions; Long Island, N.Y. [Long Island, N.Y]. 06 Nov 1994