Seaford stopped by Locust Valley

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There was plenty of enthusiasm at Viking Field last Saturday with a huge crowd packing the stadium to celebrate Homecoming. But Seaford head coach Rob Perpall was left wondering why none of it rubbed off on his team.

One week after steamrolling West Hempstead for almost 450 rushing yards, Seaford failed to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and lost for the second time in three games with a 14-0 defeat to Locust Valley.

Both teams entered the game tied for second in the Conference IV standings with 4-1 records. But instead, the Vikings fell into a third-place tie, record-wise, with North Shore, next week’s opponent, and sit just one win ahead of six other schools with two games remaining.

“The other team, they played with more enthusiasm than we did,” Perpall said. “They wanted to win more than our guys. If you ask me why, I don’t know.”

One week after rushing for a whopping 301 yards against the Rams, Seaford junior Joe Angelastro was held in check with just 25 yards on 19 carries. Senior tri-captain Tyler Volpi paced the team with 55 rushing yards.

Meanwhile, the Vikings could not stop the Falcons’ three-headed rushing attack of Thomas O’Brien, Ramell Phillips and Matt Dellaquila. O’Brien gained 177 yards on 15 carries, including a 47-yard burst that brought the ball to the Viking 1 on the first play of the second quarter. Dellaquila pounded it into the end zone on the next play to open the scoring. 

“[We] didn’t play hard-nosed, smash-mouth football,” Perpall said. “[We] played tentatively. You can’t win that way.”

Phillips finished with 45 yards and had a 17-yard touchdown catch near the back-left corner of the end zone with 11 seconds left before halftime to cap the scoring. 

The Vikings had several chances to score. They had a first-and-10 situation on the Locust Valley 22 during the first drive of the game, but mustered just one yard on the next two plays before Ryan Butler’s quarterback keeper around the right end fell three yards short of the first-down marker. 

Senior linebacker Jake Masters stripped the ball away from Locust Valley quarterback Neil Noviello at the Falcon 36 with 3:12 left in the opening quarter. But a false start penalty on the next play proved too much for the Vikings to overcome as they again turned the ball over on downs.

Seaford also held the ball for nearly nine minutes bridging the third and fourth quarters and advanced the ball to Falcon 29 with just over 10 minutes left in the game, but Angelastro was stuffed at the line of scrimmage on a third-and-5 play and Butler threw an incomplete pass to end the threat. The drive was also marred by three more false start penalties.

“It’s very frustrating because they lost their focus,” Perpall said. 

The Vikings threatened one last time on its final drive and moved the ball to the Locust Valley 32, but Logan Masters’ fourth-and-5 pass was intercepted play by Falcon defensive back Cooper Trepeta with 3:04 remaining.