Lawrence can't solve Roosevelt

After winning four consecutive Nassau Conference IV football championships from 2011-14, a bump to Conference III prior to last season hasn’t stopped Roosevelt’s success.

The move isn’t sitting well in Lawrence, however, after the Rough Riders made it two straight playoff victories over the Golden Tornadoes last Friday night, 28-14, in a windy semifinal at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. A 64-yard punt return for a touchdown by Corey Bull with 2:27 remaining sealed the win for No. 2 Roosevelt, which advanced to meet top-seeded Wantagh in the title game this Friday at 7 p.m.

“Beating Lawrence four times in a row is a very difficult thing to do,” said Rough Riders head coach Joe Vito, whose team beat the Golden Tornadoes in last year’s opener as well as a first-round playoff matchup. “It’s hard to explain,” he added. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Either team could’ve won both games this year.” 

Senior quarterback Akym Land threw two touchdown passes for Lawrence, which couldn’t overcome four squandered opportunities in the red zone and the absence of two starting offensive linemen who went down in its playoff-opening win over Valley Stream North a week earlier.

“We just didn’t finish drives,” Golden Tornadoes head coach Joe Martillotti said. “We had a 90-yard drive and didn’t score. It was frustrating.”

Kevon Hall had 128 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Both scores came in the first half. He had an 8-yard scoring run in the first quarter, and a 2-yard touchdown plunge in the second. Lawrence got within 14-7 at halftime on Land’s 26-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jordan Alexander, but couldn’t get any closer.

The Rough Riders beat Lawrence, 17-14, in Week 6 and forced six turnovers in the process. 

“We thought if we could play a cleaner game this time, even with the injuries, we’d have a real shot,” Martillotti said. “But we made it hard on ourselves. We had some bad turnovers and some dropped passes.”

The conditions made it difficult moving the ball through the air. Land was 9-for-29 for 119 yards and was sacked five times. Roosevelt quarterback Stephan Vailes was 6-for-8 for 73 yards and was picked off twice and sacked once.

Bull rushed for only three yards on eight carries, but Hall averaged 4.7 yards per carry and the former made a big play in crunch time. “They shut Corey down pretty good during the game running,” Vito said. “But big-time players step up in big moments.”

Junior Christian Rodas led Lawrence with 58 rushing yards. Senior Danny Amaya had five catches for 61 yards and a score, and led the defense with 7.5 tackles.