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Mostly Cloudy Playoff heartbreak for Carey
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Carey’s Rob Zorn turns the corner on Garden City’s Billy Sweeney during last Friday’s Nassau Conference II semifinal game at Hofstra.
Jeff Wilson/Herald
For a third consecutive season Carey’s dream of a Conference II football title ended in the semifinals as the Seahawks fell to undefeated Garden City, 21-19, at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium last Friday.
Sophomore Rob Zorn was stopped on a two-point conversion attempt with 2:57 remaining after senior Greg D’Arienzo (112 yards on 29 carries) scored his third touchdown.
Carey head coach Mike Stanley was disappointed with the outcome, but pleased with the effort. “I’m upset about the loss, because we really believed we could win this one,” Stanley said. “I’m proud of our boys. They gave incredible effort and battled through adversity.”
After both teams went three-and-out on their first possessions, Carey blocked a punt and took over at the Garden City 23. Facing fourth-and-1 from the 2-yard line, D’Arienzo took a direct snap and appeared to have a first down before coughing the ball up to Garden City’s Brian Fischer. Replays appeared to show that D’Arienzo should have been ruled down by contact.
Garden City took advantage of the turnover on the next play. Fischer took a handoff, started off left tackle, and ran 97 yards for a touchdown. The extra point gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead.
Carey was unfazed. The Seahawks started their next possession at their own 35 and marched downfield. Junior quarterback Kyle Zahradka picked up 33 yards on the drive. On third-and-2 from Garden City’s 7, D’Arienzo got outside and found the end zone. However, the touchdown was called back when Carey was flagged for holding.
After Garden City made it 13-0, the Seahawks found a little magic. Zahradka dropped back and found D’Arienzo streaking across the field on a corner post route. The senior caught the ball at the Garden City 30-yard line and sprinted to the end zone with just :05 left in the half. It was the first touchdown yielded by the Trojans in 2009. The extra-point failed.
Zorn took the second half kickoff to the Trojans’ 46. Nine plays later, it was D’Arienzo bursting into the end zone from the three. The kick by Kyle DeMeo tied the score. Carey’s offensive line of Mike Lisi, Al Gentile, Pat Castel, Drew Zahradka and Mike Babich were outstanding on the drive.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Garden City faced third-and-10 from the Carey 20. Quarterback Matt Montgomery floated a pass down the right sideline that got caught up in the wind. With the Carey defenders fooled by the short pass, Kevin Dachille came back to the ball and made the catch just inside the end zone. The two-point conversation made the score 21-13.
Zorn and D’Arienzo couldn’t be stopped on the final Carey scoring drive. They took turns carrying the ball until D’Arienzo bulled his way in from six yards out for his seventh score of the playoffs. Zorn swept left on the conversion attempt, but never had a chance as Billy Sweeney pulled him down three yards from the end zone to secure the win.
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