L.I. nips NYC in Empire Challenge

Tyler Heuer’s 2-yard touchdown run with 3:30 remaining gave Long Island a hard-fought 17-14 victory over New York City in the 16th annual UnitedHealtcare Empire Challenge before a record crowd of 11,992 at Hofstra’s James M. Shuart Stadium on June 21.

Heuer, Oceanside’s record-setting quarterback, followed the block of center Brandon Noblett (East Meadow) into the end zone to cap a six-play, 53-yard drive aided by two defensive penalties. Long Island, which led 10-0 in the first quarter but was outplayed most of the night, avoided overtime when NYC’s Michael Marando came up short on a 52-yard field-goal attempt on the final play.

“It was a tough and exciting game,” said Long Island coach Russ Cellan, who guided Freeport to the 2010 L.I. Class I championship. “Their size was incredible,” he added. “We hung in there and made some big defensive stops and got our offense going again at the end.”

Lynbrook’s Mike Kozlakowski starred defensively and earned Most Valuable Player honors. He made six tackles, two sacks and broke up a pass. His last tackle, a stop of NYC’s Andrew Vital on fourth-and-1 with 6:18 left, sent Long Island on the game-winning drive.

“It’s a great game to play in and exciting to win,” said Kozlakowski, who helped Lynbrook to the L.I. Class III title last fall and was a finalist for the Thorp Award, given to the top player in Nassau County. “A lot of us were enemies during the regular season, but we all became friends and everyone adapted quickly to the game plan.”

Although Empire Challenge rules don’t permit blitzes, one of the defensive plays designed by coordinator Buddy Krumenacker (Farmingdale) was termed “Rambo,” and it was appropriate for the stout Kozlakowski to land the lead role. “We were aggressive and got after the ball,” Kozlakowski said. “It felt good to make those stops.”

Long Island’s defense, which also featured Carey’s John Daddino, Hewlett’s Niv Sultan, Valley Stream Central’s Victor Ochi, Mepham’s Nick White, Lynbrook’s Paul Magliore and Freeport’s Jeff Williams, allowed more than 300 yards but held NYC to 0-for-9 on third-down conversions and 1-for-7 on fourth-down tries.

Long Island’s offense didn’t have much luck on third down either, moving the chains only twice in 11 attempts. Tim Wienclaw (Kellenberg) nailed a 26-yard field goal late in the first quarter for a 10-0 lead, but NYC came back with touchdown receptions by Abraham Ocasio and James Barry in the second and third quarters, respectively, to jump in front.

“We had some frustrating possessions, but we pounded it in when it mattered,” said Heuer, who hooked up with Lawrence’s Seiddrik Ervin on a 26-yard touchdown strike to cap the game’s opening drive set up by Gene Garay’s (Oceanside) kickoff return of 42 yards.

Garay caught two passes for 23 yards from his high school teammate, including one on the final drive, though it was a pass he couldn’t reach that set up the winning score. NYC was flagged for interference on Garay on a go-route at the 2-yard line. “I think we score there if they don’t interfere with Gene,” said Heuer, who reached paydirt on the next snap.

Other local offensive contributors were Lynbrook’s Travis Lock, Lawrence’s Karim Mohamed and Freeport’s Terrell Brown and Cephas Knighton-Ward.

The purpose of the Empire Challenge is to raise money and awareness to fight cystic fibrosis and support youth and high school football in the metropolitan area. It was created in 1996 by former NFL quarterback and East Islip product Boomer Esiason as a benefit for his own foundation, as well as the Gunnar H. Esiason Endowed Scholarship Fund at Hofstra and local youth football programs. Gunnar Esiason, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at an early age, was one of three Long Island quarterbacks in the 2009 game. He graduated from Friends Academy that year and now attends Boston College.

Nassau faced Suffolk in the first two years of the game’s inception before it became a Long Island-New York City showdown starting in 1998. After last week’s win, L.I. holds an 8-6 series lead.