Rocks debut new turf field

Playing its first home football game on school grounds since 2019, East Rockaway didn’t get the result it was looking for last Saturday on its spectacular new turf field but still has the Nassau Conference IV playoffs in its immediate future.
The Rocks fell in front of a packed house to Cold Spring Harbor, 28-12, and finished the regular season at .500 and in sixth place. Charles Tauckus rushed for 157 yards and two touchdowns and added 13 tackles for the visiting Seahawks, who trailed after the first quarter but scored 21 straight points to take control.
“It was a hard-fought game between two good teams,” East Rockaway head coach Russ Pajer said. “We both play strong, disciplined defense and really it came down to them making a couple of more fourth-down plays than we did.”
East Rockaway’s next home game will have to wait until 2022. It will travel to face No. 3 Clarke in the first round of the playoffs this Friday at 2 p.m. The Rocks (4-4) lost 30-20 to the Rams on Oct. 2.
“Getting a turf field has been talked about for a long time and it’s awesome to see,” said Pajer, who took over the program in 1995. “This was the only home game for this group of seniors since they were sophomores, so I’m glad it was able to happen even though it didn’t end the way we wanted.”

While East Rockaway’s field was under construction it played all three of its “home” games last season at Malverne. This season it played two at Malverne and one at Oceanside. And last Saturday’s game was originally scheduled for the previous night at Hewlett before Pajer received the news the finale could happen on the new turf.
East Rockaway junior John Giannotti was the first to score a touchdown on the new field. His 19-yard touchdown run with 4:07 left in the opening quarter capped a 10-play, 95-yard drive and it was 6-0.
Cold Spring Harbor, which began six of its nine possessions in Rocks territory, answered quickly with an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback C.J. Reilly on a fourth-and-3 less than a minute into the second quarter. The Seahawks never looked back after Michael Schmidt booted his first of four straight extra points for a 7-6 lead.
Reilly hurt East Rockaway through the air on Cold Spring Harbor’s second possession of the second half, hooking up twice with Jesse Phelan for a total of 47 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown toss with 2:10 left in the third quarter for a 14-6 lead.
It was 21-6 in the fourth before the Rocks responded with a 60-yard touchdown drive with less than four minutes remaining. Diving receptions by Chase Vertuccio and Aiden Green set up Giannotti’s 2-yard score to close the gap to 21-12. But, the Seahawks recovered the onside kick and sealed the deal with a 15-yard touchdown run by Tauckus with 1:32 left.