Friday, July 11, 2025
For a second straight season, the Plainedge and East Rockaway girls’ flag football teams met with a Nassau County title on the line.
And it was Plainedge repeating last year’s championship accomplishment in rainy conditions Wednesdday evening as quarterback Gianna Ponticello and receiver Amanda Martone hooked up for a touchdown in each half and the defense stood tall to lead the Red Devils over the Rocks, 12-0, in the Conference C final at Bethpage High School.
“It feels really great,” Pnticello said. “We’ve been working hard all year because we know how tough it is to get this far. We know with how good our defense has been, we don’t have to put up a ton of points. Defense wins championships.”
Last spring, Plainedge topped East Rockaway 19-7 for the Conference II crown. The Red Devils (10-7-1) also took this year’s regular-season matchup April 4, 27-0 in another lights-out defensive performance.
Kate Franks (nine flag pulls), Sarah Abdul-Rassoul (eight) and Jennifer Larwood were relentless on defense throughout the title game and Rebecca Reiter sealed the deal with an interception with East Rockaway driving with 1:25 remaining. The Rocks finished 7-9.
“We felt pretty confident coming in and the girls executed the game plan and I’m proud of them,” Plainedge head coach Adam Hovorka said. “East Rockaway’s built a nice program over there and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy to repeat. It helps when you have a quarterback who can sling it like Gianna.”
Ponticello shook off an early interception courtesy of the Rocks’ Ava Caradonna and some rain-assisted drops to get the offense on the board late in the first half. She zipped a long pass over the middle to fellow sophomore Martone, who took it the last 10 yards into the end zone for a 31-yard score to make it 6-0 with 2:00 left in the half.
“I wasn’t even sure I caught the ball at first,” Martone said.
East Rockaway’s defense stood up to the test up until the Ponticello-Martone magic gave Plainedge momentum it never relinquished. The duo struck again with 16:51 left to make it 12-0, with Martone catching a short toss before weaving in and out of a host of defenders en route to the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown.
“We liked our chances at 12-0,” Hovorka said.
Ponticello (2,000-plus passing yards, 30 touchdowns), Charlotte Norbury (43 receptions, 786 yards, 10 touchdowns, Franks (800 yards rushing, 10 touchdowns) and Martone (40 catches, 500 yards) have led the Red Devils all spring. Ponticello (6) and Jen Larwood have also combined for 11 interceptions on defense.
East Rockaway, which defeated Cold Spring Harbor in the semifinals, 14-13, were led by running backs Rahcel Burch (544 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Caradonna (492 yards, 7 touchdowns), quarterback Danilynn Fardella and on defense Burch (100 flag grabs), Dayanara Jose Marino, Norah Rose and Isabella Colacino.
“We played tough,” Rocks head coach Fred Cange said. “I’m very proud of the program we’ve built here and we’re looking to recruit more girls for next season.”
Plainedge faces John Glenn for the L.I. Class C title.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids with seven freshmen and four sophomores starting, but our expectation was to get to this game and hopefully go one step further than last year,” Hovorka said.
