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Mostly Cloudy Long Beach caps year with win
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Long Beach's Tom Rowley makes some headway against the Roslyn defense during the Marines' 14-3 Conference II victory last Saturday.
Susan Grieco/Herald
Though Long Beach didn’t exactly light up the home scoreboard again, two touchdowns proved more than enough to put a notch in the win column in last Saturday’s Conference II season finale against Roslyn.
The Marines closed their first year under Coach Scott Martin with a 14-3 victory—the first and only at home in 2009 after losses to Great Neck South, Carey and Garden City—as a defense led by junior Nate Barksdale (six tackles) and sophomore Tom Rowley (four tackles, one fumble recovery) held the Bulldogs to 150 total yards and a first-quarter field goal.
“We talked all week about the seniors going out with a win,” Martin said. “We played tough.”
Long Beach, which finished 3-5, fell behind in the first quarter when Ethan Back nailed a 34-yard field with a stiff breeze at his back. The hosts answered late in the second on a nifty pass play from senior quarterback Chris Cori to senior receiver Mike O’Connell, who hauled down a 2-yard scoring toss on a fade route. “It’s a play everyone practices,” Martin said. “It was a perfect throw and Mike got both feet inbounds.” Nick McCarthy added the extra point and the Marines took a 7-3 lead into halftime.
Neither defense cracked in a scoreless third quarter, but then junior running back Damon Whitfield (155 yards on 19 carries) gave Long Beach some breathing room in the fourth with a 3-yard touchdown run—his eighth of the season. “He was breaking some big runs all day,” Martin said of Whitfield, who had 220 yards and three scores in a 24-7 victory at New Hyde Park on Oct. 10. “If he trains really hard during the offseason he could be one of the best backs in the county next year.”
Cori, making his first career start after throwing a pair of touchdown passes in relief in the previous week’s 42-20 defeat at MacArthur, went 5-for-8 for 30 yards. In addition to O’Connell, Cedric Coad and Lorenzo Torres had receptions.
The win allowed the Marines to cap a roller coaster season on the upswing. They were seeded seventh in the 14-team conference and finished ninth with 88.75 power rating points. They struggled big-time against the elite teams, losing to top-seeded Garden City, second-seeded Carey and third-seeded, defending county champion Elmont by a combined 120-19. Long Beach did, however, accomplish something Oct. 17 no other team in the county can boast. It scored points—and held a lead—against Garden City. McCarthy hit a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter.
If there’s one game Martin and the Marines would like to have back, it’s the 15-13 loss to Great Neck South on Homecoming. The offense coughed up the ball six times, including an interception brought back for a touchdown and a fumble out of the Rebels end zone. “It was a game where we did everything but hold onto the ball,” Martin said.
Summing up his first year at the helm, Martin said: “It was a positive experience.”
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