Baldwin can't overcome big plays

Timing can be everything.

Massapequa had it, and Baldwin didn’t in last Saturday’s first-round Nassau Conference I football playoff battle.

The Chiefs generated three big plays, including one after a Bruins penalty and another off a turnover, to run away with a 28-7 victory. The backbreaking play, a 97-yard touchdown run by Massapequa sophomore Jack Korber midway through the third quarter, came two plays after Baldwin (6-3) fumbled at the Chiefs 5. Taking the second-down handoff to the left, Korber turned upfield and outran everyone, even weaving between a pair of last-ditch tackle efforts by Baldwin junior Travis Hylton and sophomore Matt Guilfoyle at the Bruins’ 30 to open up a 14-point Massapequa lead.

“You would normally think that in a big game it’s the little things that make a difference,” Chiefs head coach Kevin Shippos said. “But today, we had a lot of big plays [that did].”

Those big plays offset a mostly solid defensive effort by the Bruins, who slowed down a Massapequa attack that had piled up at least 49 points in the previous four games. “We didn’t make the plays when we had to,” Baldwin head coach Steve Carroll said. “They were obviously the better team today. We had one nice march and fumbled it, and it was all downhill from there.”

Coming out of intermission, the Bruins trailed by just six points, 13-7, and appeared to take a little control on the opening drive of the second half. Junior cornerback Javaun Tomlinson pounced on a Massapequa fumble at the Baldwin 46 on the second play of the third quarter. Tomlinson (31 yards) and junior Treyvon Mask (12) combined for 43 rushing yards on the next five plays that put the Bruins just outside the red zone. Mask then scampered 21 yards for a touchdown that was ultimately called back by a penalty. Junior Johnathan Robinson picked up six yards before the fumble on third down from the Chiefs’ 11.

“Anytime you have a tough game against a top-notch opponent when you get a break you have to take advantage of it,” Shippos said. “That was the difference for us.”