Surge lifts Oceanside over Baldwin

Twenty four strong minutes from senior running back Tariek Harris, plus two forced fumbles by the defense and a blocked punt by the special teams added up to a 35-21 victory for No. 2 Oceanside (8-1) over No. 7 Baldwin in the first round of the Nassau County Conference I football playoffs last Saturday. Harris, who had just one carry for five yards in the first half, kick started the Sailors’ run of 28 consecutive points in the third and fourth quarters with a 1-yard plunge just after halftime.  

“He’s an All-County running back for us,” Oceanside coach Rob Blount said. “Him coming back in, you heard it in the stands and it definitely gave the kids a boost in morale.”

Harris’ first touchdown came just one play after senior Ryan Hertling turned the entire momentum of the game by blocking a Baldwin punt and returning it to the Bruins’ 1. After a bad snap over the head of Baldwin’s junior punter, Jared Juarbe-Myles, Hertling kept up his chase and ultimately got his hands on the ball as Juarbe-Myles tried in vain to kick the ball after scooping it up and heading towards the sideline. “It was a bad snap and we had taken the punt block off [for that play]. That’s a game-changer.  For him to do that takes a lot of pressure off of the offense.”

Harris finished with 104 yards rushing on 13 carries and three touchdowns and supported a defense that kept Baldwin (3-6) off the scoreboard in the second half until Bruins’ senior quarterback Tyler Warner threw his third touchdown pass of the game with just 1:01 remaining. “He sets up 90 percent of their plays,” Baldwin coach Steve Carroll said of Harris, who ripped off runs of 59, 23 and 20 yards in the second half.

“It evens up the numbers when they load the box,” Blount said of using Harris out of the Wildcat formation. “It allows us to different things when we run the ball.”

And even when Harris wasn’t lining up as the quarterback, Oceanside’s offense started to make plays in the third quarter. Sophomore quarterback Vincent Guarino set up Harris’ second 1-yard score with a 50-yard completion to senior wide receiver Timmy Nolan who finished the game with seven catches for 142 yards. “The way we’re built this year isn’t downfield like we used to be, but the [receivers] are capable of making plays.”

Oceanside (8-1) advances to the semifinal round at Hofstra this Saturday where it meets No. 3 Massapequa at 8:30 p.m. The Sailors won the regular-season meeting, 16-13, with a touchdown on the final play of the game.

Warner opened the game with a pair of long touchdown throws — 83 yards to senior Raymond Bosques in the first quarter and 25 yards to senior Brandon Edwards in the second — and finished with 196 yards passing. “He’s our All-County player,” Carroll said of Warner, who was sacked twice times by a Sailors defense led by three All County players on the line in seniors Max Schneider, James Kretkowski and junior Kyone Murphy. “He’s a legit football player. We just weren’t getting enough pass protection.”