East Meadow stops Oceanside

Posted

East Meadow quarterback Anthony Love-Kemper had three choices when he snapped the ball on fourth-and-3 in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ Conference I battle at Oceanside last Saturday. Make the wrong one with a four-point lead, and the Sailors would have great field position and a chance to retake the lead.

Rather than keeping the ball—Love-Kemper already had seven carries—or handing off to senior Johnny Wilson—something he’d already done 24 times—the sophomore tossed it to senior wingback Brian Kavanagh, as the defense bit on the fake to Wilson. Kavanagh turned the corner and streaked untouched 47 yards to the end zone for a game-changing score in East Meadow’s 21-16 win. 

“With the triple option the quarterback can go anywhere with it,” Jets head coach Vin Mascia said. “He did a great job of pulling it back and pitching it. He’s got to read two guys going 100 miles an hour, and he’s doing a great job with [the decision making].”

The victory pushed East Meadow to 3-0 and the Sailors, on Homecoming, fell to 1-2.

Oceanside’s junior quarterback Vincent Guarino led a late 85-yard drive that ended with a 27-yard touchdown pass to senior Mike Checco, but East Meadow junior Billy Piano corralled the ensuing on-sides kick and the Jets ran out the clock. Piano also batted down a pass by Guarino earlier in the quarter with junior linebacker Wilfer Ibanez making a diving interception.

“Our defense played great and our offense was equally important doing its job,” Mascia said, noting that the line on both sides was anchored by several two-way players, who played the entire game including senior Marcos Watkins and juniors Zach Fritz and Matt Mascia. “When we have success, we control the clock and we move the sticks. We don’t necessarily have [a bunch] of big plays.”

The Jets played keep away for almost the entire third quarter, with their offense on the field for 21 of 22 plays at one point, covering 10:56 of the game clock. The only play it wasn’t on the field, Kavanagh turned in another big play by picking off a Guarino pass over the middle. “We had a turnover right [at the start of a possession] in the third quarter after a great stop,” Sailors head coach Rob Blount said of his team, which had just gotten the ball back on downs at its own 19. “They came right back down and scored and we didn’t execute.”

While the Sailors had their struggles, Guarino did take advantage of a breakdown in the East Meadow defense late in the second quarter. He hooked up with a streaking Mike Ambrosecchia on a 96-yard touchdown pass on the very first play after a punt pinned them inside the 5. On the final drive of the half, Oceanside turned a 9-yard run by junior Brandy Diaz and a 19-yard pass from Guarino to junior James Paczkowski into a 29-yard field goal—by Paczkowski—at the horn.

Following Kavanagh’s interception, East Meadow marched 36 yards in eight plays with Wilson (30 carries, 94 yards) scoring from two yards out to put the Jets ahead to stay. “He’s a big play kid,” Mascia said of Kavanagh, who also pulled down a 38-yard pass from Love-Kemper to help the Jets run out the clock. “He’s the kind of kid that the game never gets too big for him. He doesn’t panic and he never reacts poorly.”

Working on a short week, East Meadow looks to remain unbeaten when it hosts Hicksville on Thursday at 4 p.m. Oceanside hosts Syosset at 4:30 p.m.