Defense leads Elmont past Mepham

For the second straight year, Mepham traveled to Elmont to challenge the Spartans in the first round of the Nassau Conference II football playoffs. The Pirates pulled off the upset in 2010, but this time it was No. 3-seed Elmont that got the last laugh, winning 14-7.

It marked the third-overall matchup between these two teams in the past 12 months, the most recent being Oct. 22, when Elmont defeated Mepham, 28-23. “We changed some things up from last game,” Elmont head coach Jay Hegi said. “They scored on us three times last game. We made some changes for the better.”

The changes appeared to have worked. After jumping out to a 14-0 first half lead, the Elmont defense kept Mepham scoreless for the first three and a half quarters, while inducing five sacks, one of which came in the end zone for a safety by senior Ben Odugbesan.

Unable to move the ball all game long, It wasn’t until 6:40 remaining in the fourth quarter when Mepham finally found signs of life. A 39-yard completion from quarterback A.J. Heller to Dylan Gordon gave the Pirates their first big play, and then completions to Kyle Berlin, Joey Dentici, and again to Gordon set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Heller to Shane Agostino to make it 14-7.

Mepham would get the ball back again with 2:50 remaining and deep in their own territory, but a quick four-and-out gave the ball back to Elmont and the Spartans (6-3) ran out the clock and punched their ticket to Hofstra for the semifinals where they’ll face No. 2 Wantagh on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“You can’t get off to a slow start,” Mepham head coach Anthony Cracco said. “We didn’t execute fundamentally in the first half. We didn’t block and we didn’t tackle. It’s the two most important phases of the game.”

Elmont, on the other hand, had less trouble moving the ball. A 14-yard pass from quarterback William Faison to Qusarn Caldwell set up a first-and-goal situation early in the first quarter, and the Spartans punched it in with a sneak by Faison for a 6-0 lead.

The Spartans added another touchdown in the second quarter on a two-yard completion from Faison to Kyle Johnson, making it 12-0.

Odugbesan’s safety, one of his two sacks on the day, came late in the third quarter, as he broke free on the blind side to get to Heller while in the end zone, which at the time, gave Elmont a 14-point lead.

“I’m pretty ecstatic,” said Hegi. “The team played great. Offensively we had some great drives. I just thought it was a great game between two great teams.”

It capped an up-and-down season for Mepham, which began 3-0 before losing four of five to finish the regular season 4-4.

“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster,” said Cracco. “These guys were great throughout the season and brought effort every day. They fought through a lot of things.”