Wantagh's big plays stop Elmont

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Last Saturday’s Wantagh-Elmont Conference II football game swung in the final seconds of the first half.

With Wantagh clinging to a one-point lead, quarterback Rob Tucker found Jimmy Joyce in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown reception with just six seconds remaining. Moments later, Elmont attempted a Hail Mary pass from its 38-yard line that Joyce picked off and ran 75-yards for another touchdown that extended the Warriors’ lead to 15 at intermission.

“That pick at the end of the half took the air right out of us,” Elmont head coach Jay Hegi said after his team’s 42-20 Homecoming loss that dropped the Spartans to 4-2. “It was a great first half, but it ended really badly.”

“We played well enough to be up 15 at halftime but the way we did it was very unconventional,” Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said. “It was a half of big plays.”

Prior to the late first half fireworks, Elmont’s offense was hanging with Wantagh’s explosive offense on the strength of two touchdowns from Aston Brown and a 50-yard touchdown reception by Princeton Gahagan from quarterback Aaron Ruthman that cut the lead to 21-20 with a minute left. The second half was a different story however, with Wantagh (5-1) controlling much of the clock on sustained drives and defense coming up with key turnovers including another interception from Joyce.

“I thought the first half was great until the last 30 seconds,” Hegi said. “We needed to bounce back in the first drive of the second half and we didn’t do it.”

Among the many big first half plays that set up Wantagh’s halftime advantage was a 58-yard reception by Kyle Sliwak to the Elmont 1-yard line that set up a touchdown run from Bruno Surace for a 14-6 advantage. On Wantagh’s ensuing drive, Surace picked up a 38-yard gain to the Elmont 9-yard line that set up a touchdown run from Sliwak to extend the lead to 21-12. Surace finished the day rushing for 118 yards on the ground and recording four catches out of the backfield.

Tucker was efficient under center throwing for 218 yards on 15-of-19 passing and three touchdowns. His four-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Beckwith on the final play of the first quarter opened the Wantagh scoring. Kicker Michael Piergiovanni was a perfect 6-for-6 on extra points. 

Both Wantagh and Elmont entered the game at 4-1 and the Warriors’ win could go a long way toward deciding seeding for the upcoming Nassau County playoffs. Wantagh next faces unbeaten Garden City at home this Saturday at 2 p.m. while Elmont will look to get back on the winning track at Westbury. 

Wantagh has a chance to earn the top seed with a win against Garden City and in the regular-season finale at Sewanhaka, but Sachs said seeding matters very little once the postseason begins.

“Where we are seeded isn’t that important because you have the face the same teams again anyway,” said Sachs, who has led Wantagh to the playoffs 20 of the last 21 years. “We control our own destiny.”