Carey holds off Elmont, 21-19

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Riley DeMeo didn’t have to wait for Carey’s offense to get back on the field to redeem himself after fumbling a couple of yards shy of scoring a touchdown early in the third quarter of last Saturday’s Nassau Conference II showdown with neighboring rival Elmont.
On the ensuing possession, DeMeo, a senior, blocked a punt and junior James Stein turned it into a 10-yard touchdown to give the host Seahawks an eight-point lead on the way to a 21-19 victory. Stein also had a scoring reception and sophomore Anthony DeNicola added a touchdown run for Carey (2-1), which played its third straight cliffhanger.
“It was hard seeing the ball fumble into the end zone, but our defense came back with a big stop and forced them to punt,” said DeMeo, who had seven receptions for 145 yards, including one for 70 and another for 50. “I had a clear lane to the punter and the ball bounced right to Stein and he ran it in. It was such an adrenaline rush.”
The Spartans (1-2) answered with an 86-yard touchdown run by senior Jaiyetoro Gordon-Young with 59 seconds left in the third, but Carey senior linebacker Devin Hartz (10 tackles) preserved the lead with a sack on the two-point conversion try. Sophomore Joseph Todaro’s interception around midfield with 28 seconds left in the fourth sealed it.
“Tight game after tight game,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “I just told the kids that’s what our conference is going to be like every week. We’ve seen every kind of situation you can ask for so far. We were hungry to get back out there after not being able to put Calhoun away last week and the effort was awesome.”

The Seahawks fell behind on just the second play of the game when Elmont sophomore quarterback Jonathan Maldonado (7-for-25, 135 yards) hooked up with senior James Pierre for a 60-yard touchdown. Half of the yardage came after the catch as Pierre beat single coverage and weaved through secondary help en route to paydirt.
Carey pulled even late in the first quarter as DeNicola scored on a 3-yard run from a wildcat formation two snaps after junior quarterback Jason Kessler (22-for-36, 228 yards) kept the drive alive with a 13-yard completion to senior Nick Giacalone on 4th-and-12 from the 19. It was 14-7 Seahawks at the half thanks to Kessler’s 9-yard scoring strike to Stein.
Gordon-Young starred on both sides of the ball to open the second half with an interception and a 28-yard touchdown reception on back-to-back plays to bring the Spartans within 14-13. However, a bad snap on the extra-point try kept them playing from behind the rest of the way.
“I don’t want to take any credit away from them, but we really didn’t play well,” Elmont head coach Jay Hegi said. “We didn’t follow some of the play calls and we made some crucial mistakes on special teams. It’s a tough one and we’ll look to bounce back next week.”
The Spartans host Sewanhaka on Saturday at 2 p.m., while Carey travels to face two-time defending county champion Garden City.