Oceanside falls in OT

On a day when Oceanside senior quarterback Tyler Heuer etched his name into the Nassau County football record book, the Sailors came up short for the third time in two seasons at Freeport’s George F. Emma Field.

Heuer tied Freeport alum Randy Mills’s single-season mark for touchdown passes early in the second half of last Saturday’s Conference I showdown and gave Oceanside a 20-point lead in the process, but the defending Long Island Class I champion Red Devils staged a furious rally and pulled out a game for the ages, 41-38, in overtime.

Senior Daniel Olivier’s fourth touchdown of the afternoon, a 2-yard run, won it after the Sailors took a 3-point lead on senior Travis Feinberg’s 25-yard field goal on the first OT possession.

“This win means a lot,” said Freeport junior Jere Brown, whose 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter essentially forced overtime. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see [Oceanside] again in the playoffs. This was a really close game.”

Both teams finished the regular season with a record of 7-1 and will host first-round playoff games on Saturday at 3 p.m. No. 1 Freeport faces No. 8 Baldwin, while No. 2 Oceanside takes on No. 7 Massapequa. 

Heuer passed for three scores, the last a 42-yarder to senior Gene Garay that gave him 30 on the year and a share of the county record. It also put the Sailors up 27-7 with 10:01 remaining in the third quarter.

“We scored 35 points [in regulation], but it wasn’t a clean offensive game,” Oceanside coach Rob Blount said. “We played hard and maybe we’ll see them down the road at Hofstra. But first we have other business to take care of.”

The Sailors, who lost twice at Freeport in 2009, scored on three of their first four possessions and built a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Heuer found senior Chris Hughes in the back of the end zone for a 20-yard score, senior Nick Sherry ran for a 24-yard touchdown and Garay wiggled his way to pay dirt from 10 yards out after catching a short slant.