Thursday, October 1, 2026
Averaging a league-best 42.9 points per game last autumn, Oceanside, for the first time in four seasons, returned to the county Conference 1 final, where the Sailors’ top-ranked offense was stopped by perennial postseason nemesis – and eventual three-peat Long Island champ – Massapequa.
While Oceanside’s offense this year faces questions at quarterback and along an almost all-new O-line, its All-County backfield should offer only answers, with Third-Team All-State halfback Chace Morris (Nassau-leading 28 touchdowns) returning alongside Sixth-Team All-State tailback Dylan Parker.
Dubbed “Thunder and Lightning” by teammates, the Sailors tag-team tandem struck for a combined 2,000-plus rushing yards – Morris’s 1,294 ranking fifth in Nassau – as each back averaged over 10 yards per carry last season.
Eighteenth-year Sailors head coach Rob Blount sees a path back to Hofstra for Oceanside if its powerhouse rushing attack can reprise its force-of-nature performance, offsetting any dip that could come with breaking in a new passing corps, which will feature either Peter Palotti or Brian Saccareccia starting a fist year under center, with Jaden Belone the lone returning starter at receiver opposite new starting split ends David Gibson and Steve Saccareccia.
“We might lean on the run game a little bit,” said Blount, whose club – which opens as the No. 2 seed in Conference 1 – finished 8-3 last season (7-2 Conference 1). “(Morris and Parker) are special, each in his own way, something we’ve never really had before.”
“Chace, even though he’s smaller, is a power back,” Blount said of the 5-foot-9 senior, a reigning county wrestling champ at 144 pounds. “Dylan is more of an elusive, big-play back, maybe the most athletic player on the team.”
“We’ll take what teams give us, though,” Blount added. “If they key on our backs, we’ll look to pass. We’ll be able to do that.”
Defensively, the Sailors look to take a step forward behind senior captains Benny Jacofsky and Hudson Triscari – returning starters at linebacker – with Bey Alexander and Nick Scarlata becoming starters at edge, and fellow seniors Ben Cipolla, Drew Lynch and Nick Valukis moving up to man the defensive line.
With a team head-count of 36 – “Our smallest numbers in years,” Blount said – Oceanside will employ an almost-total two-way roster. The Sailors’ starting line personnel sees the same names on either side of the ball – as does Oceanside’s backfield, with Morris and Parker in the secondary, joined by Belone and Gibson.
Triscari, who started last season at fullback, will again rotate with Alexander at the position, the pair also splitting duties at first-string tight end.
“Having our two fullbacks back will really help our offense continue,” Blount said. “Yes, we graduated a lot of seniors, a lot of receivers, and of course our four-year quarterback. But we’ll find a way to make it work with the guys we do have coming back.”
Palotti – notwithstanding his frontrunner status at QB – is slated to start at cornerback, and will also succeed school all-time great Ryan Pender as Oceanside’s placekicker.
Both Palotti and Saccareccia – last year’s starting signal-caller for Oceanside’s JV team – give the Sailors dual-threat options at quarterback, Blount said, possibly further enhancing Oceanside’s already lethal ground game.
“Peter’s a little faster, maybe gets a little more separation,” Blount said. “Brian runs more like a power runner. But really, they’re very similar.”
“Both can pass, too,” Blount added. “Which ever one we go with, they can do the job.”
Oceanside hosts Conference 1 foe Farmingdale – which it eliminated last year in the league semifinal, avenging an early loss – in the opener, with a Week 5 rematch at Massapequa looming on Oct. 10.
“We’re built totally differently (from last year),” Blount said. “One thing I would say, I think this group, it being a much smaller group, I think they’re very close knit. They have a nice a nice brotherhood between them, and a nice amount of grit.”
“I think they believe in themselves,” Blount added. “They want to get back to the final.”
To read more from the Herald's 2026 High School Football Preview, click here.
