Oceanside tops rival Baldwin

After losing last year’s Nassau Conference I football semifinal playoff matchup, Oceanside got a small measure of revenge against rival Baldwin with a 24-14 victory before a standing-room-only homecoming crowd last Saturday.

The Sailors (2-1) engineered two scoring drives in the decisive fourth quarter, including an 11-play, 80-yard go-ahead touchdown march capped by junior JT D’Angelo’s 25-yard run with 7:11 remaining, to break a 14-14 tie. Senior Mike Palmiotto provided the insurance with a 21-yard field goal with less than three minutes to go.

“Oceanside-Baldwin is always an intense battle,” Sailors head coach Rob Blount said. “It was back and forth all day. What it came down to is we made a few more big plays.”

The Bruins (2-1), who got a pair of touchdown passes from senior quarterback Tyler Warner in the third quarter, couldn’t overcome three lost fumbles and some key penalties.

“We made too many mistakes to beat a team of Oceanside’s caliber,” Baldwin head coach Steve Carroll said. “You can’t put the ball on the ground three times and expect to beat anyone. This was our biggest test so far, and I didn’t like a lot of what I saw. I didn’t like our body language.”

The Bruins suffered a substantial loss on both sides of the ball on the game’s opening possession when senior two-way lineman Niamke D’Avilar went down with a reported broken collarbone. “We’ll do our best to replace him, but he meant a lot,” Carroll said. “It’s a tremendous loss.”

Oceanside stalled inside the red zone on its opening drive, and was inside the Baldwin 30 on its next possession when senior Matt Guilfoyle recovered a fumble to end the threat. On their third series, however, the Sailors finally cashed in when senior Casey Kelly took a screen pass from sophomore quarterback Vincent Guarino and raced 22 yards for a touchdown. Palmiotto’s extra point made it 7-0, and it stayed that way until halftime.

With three punts and a turnover on downs in the first half, Baldwin’s offense was looking to get back to previous form when it totaled 83 points in back-to-back wins over Hicksville and Hempstead to open the campaign. The second half didn’t start well as the Bruins punted again, but a fumble recovery by junior Jared Juarbe-Myles put the unit back in business at the Oceanside 39.

Some tough running by senior Derek Drew and junior Matt Eberhart led to Warner’s perfectly placed 26-yard scoring strike to a leaping Gerard Lyle to make it 7-6. Oceanside’s Kyone Murphy blocked the extra-point try to keep the hosts in front.

Murphy, a junior defensive end, made another huge play on Baldwin’s next offensive possession, scooping up a fumble at the 26 to set up senior Tariek Harris’ 27-yard touchdown burst up the middle. The Bruins answered with senior Naji Ali’s 55-yard touchdown reception and Warner’s two-point conversion run to tie it, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Sailors.

Baldwin returns home to face Uniondale this Saturday at 3 p.m. Oceanside travels to Freeport for a 4 p.m. kickoff.