Sailors cruise to win over East Meadow

And then there was one.

Oceanside wowed a standing-room-only Homecoming crowd with another spectacular offensive display and emerged from last Saturday’s showdown with East Meadow as the lone unbeaten team in Nassau Conference I. 

Senior quarterback Tyler Heuer threw a school-record six touchdown passes, including a pair to senior Gene Garay, and senior defensive back Joe Swanson had two interceptions, a sack and a forced fumble to lead the Sailors to a convincing 48-7 victory in front of 2,000 spectators.

Heuer had scoring tosses of 44, 8, 58, 8, 38 and 22 yards, and senior Nick Sherry added a 1-yard touchdown run. It was the third straight game in which Oceanside scored at least 40 points.

“My receivers made me look good,” said a humble Heuer, who broke former NFL quarterback Jay Fiedler’s single-game OHS mark for touchdown passes and has 15 in four games as well as six rushing scores. “They’re dangerous in the open field,” he added. “Our line did a great job against the blitz. They were bigger than us up front, but our guys held their own.”

The Sailors (4-0) came out throwing, as usual, and the Jets (3-1) couldn’t stop them. Heuer completed 13 of 18 attempts for 299 yards, Garay had five receptions for 139 yards, and senior Chris Hughes had four grabs for 113 yards.

“They have tremendous skill players,” East Meadow coach Vinny Mascia said. “Whether we lost by 40 points or one, it’s just one loss.

“At the beginning of the season, I would’ve signed up to be 3-1 at this point,” he added. “We’re seeded fifth [in Conference I]. We beat No. 1, lost to No. 4 and beat two teams ranked behind us. We’re not in bad shape.”

But nobody is in better shape than Ocean-side, which has top-seeded Farmingdale and third-seeded Freeport remaining on its schedule. The Sailors, who sit in first place with 117.5 power rating points, visit the Dalers on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

“We’re striving to get to the level of Freeport and Farmingdale,” Oceanside coach Robert Blount said. “We’re scoring a lot of points, but our defense is also doing a great job. We’re excited, but there’s a long way to go.”

The Sailors opened the scoring for the fourth time in as many weeks, needing just 3:13 to do so. Six snaps into the game, Garay was in the end zone after Heuer found him along the visiting sideline for a 44-yard touchdown. The offense struck again early in the second quarter after East Meadow’s first possession ended on downs at the Oceanside 32, as a pass from senior quarterback Dylan Curry slipped through a receiver’s fingertips. Garay had receptions of 23 and 24 yards to set up Heuer’s 8-yard scoring pass to senior Phil Ragona.

The Jets moved the ball into enemy territory on their next drive, but Swanson stopped Curry short of a first down at the Oceanside 28 to put Blount’s quick-strike offense in motion again. Hughes caught a dump pass down the middle and zipped 58 yards for a touchdown, and the lead at halftime was 28-0 after a fumble recovery by junior Hector Quintin set up Sherry’s 8-yard touchdown catch.

A diving interception by senior Chris Flynn ended East Meadow’s first possession of the second half, and Garay caught Heuer’s fifth touchdown pass on the next play. Junior James Keane was on the receiving end of the record sixth scoring pass midway through the third quarter. Junior kicker Travis Feinberg hit 6 of 7 extra-point attempts.

The Jets, who host Hicksville on Saturday at 3 p.m., avoided the shutout late in the fourth quarter when Jeff Zea scored on an 8-yard run.