Saturday, November 14, 2026
Locked in Carey’s vault for 10 weeks, the time to call a much-practiced gadget play finally came late in the second quarter of Friday night’s Nassau Conference II football semifinal.
And the Seahawks executed the hook-and-ladder to perfection to build a 21-point halftime lead on the way to a convincing 49-14 victory over Mepham at Hofstra University.
On fourth-and-5 from the Pirates’ 35-yard line, Vince Vicari caught a 10-yard pass from freshman quarterback Gunnar Nelson and flipped the ball to an onrushing Justin DePietro, who hurdled a defender at the 20 and stormed into the end zone with 30 seconds remaining in the first half and the lead was 28-7.
“We’ve been begging to run that play all season,” said DePietro, who had three rushing touchdowns and one receiving. “Vince and I were smiling in the huddle, but we knew we still had to go make it happen. It’s awesome it turned into a touchdown.”
Second-seeded Carey (9-1) advances to face 10-time defending county champion Garden City (9-1) in the title game next Friday at Hofstra at 4 p.m. The Trojans edged the Seahawks, 13-12, Oct. 17 on a field goal in the closing seconds. No. 5 Mepham, which got a pair of touchdown passes from junior quarterback Adam Erlichman, finished 4-6.
“I can’t say enough about our performance tonight,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “The kids really came to play. We wanted to start fast . . . everyone does. We thought it was going to be a war. We had a bunch of big plays and just got on a roll.”
The Seahawks, who opened the playoffs with a 35-7 victory over No. 7 Kennedy, rallied to beat Mepham 21-14 in the regular-season finale two weeks ago but led the rematch from midway through the first quarter to the end.
DePietro’s 1-yard touchdown run capped Carey’s opening possession, and David Avila’s 35-yard touchdown run on the second snap of the second quarter made it 14-0.
The Pirates cut the margin in half with 3:20 left in the second when Erlichman hooked up three times with Lucas Eagleston for 79 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown, on their best drive of the game that covered 86 yards.
But one play later, DePietro busted down the middle for a 65-yard touchdown to make it 21-7.
Then came the trickery.
“We’ve been working on that play all year and it’s one of those things you never know if you’re going to use it or not,” Stanley said of the hook-and-ladder. “It’s looked great in practice for two months. Vince is so skilled with the ball. Gunner threw him a perfect pass and number six [DePietro] did the rest. Six did a lot tonight. He’s as good as there is in the county.”
Dylan Walsh also starred for Carey with five receptions and a 55-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown that increased the lead to 35-7 early in the third quarter. Anthony DeMarco forced the fumble. DePietro (46-yard reception) and Luca Lentini (43-yard run) scored late in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Kicker Michael Lombardi went 7-for-7 on extra-point attempts.
“We’re a physical team that’s not going to be pushed around,” Walsh said. “This feels great, but we know we still have more work to do.”
