Thursday, October 1, 2026
It was a picture-perfect day for South Side’s Homecoming, but Justin DePietro, Christian Anaya and visiting Carey stole the Cyclones’ thunder in a clash of top contenders in Nassau Conference III football.
DePietro rushed for a pair of touchdowns and Anaya had a sack for a safety and a scoop-and-score 69-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, set up by DePietro’s sack, as the Seahawks extended their winning streak to 15 straight with a 35-14 victory Saturday in front of a standing-room-only crowd in Rockville Centre.
South Side had first-and-goal from the Carey 9 looking to make it a one-possession game when a blitzing DePietro jarred the ball loose and a mad scramble ensued. Several bounces and about 20 yards later, Anaya pounced on it and raced down the sideline ahead of a convoy of teammates and into the end zone with 3:38 remaining to seal the deal.
“The safety felt great but the touchdown topped it because it was a first for me at any level of football,” said Anaya, a senior two-way starting lineman. “All that was going through my head was ‘don’t cramp up and keep running.’ I was just so happy to take it all the way and make that kind of contribution to the team.”
Anaya’s safety early in the second quarter put Carey (3-0) ahead for good at 9-7 after DePietro, a junior, and South Side junior AJ Magaraci traded first-quarter touchdowns covering 8 and 45 yards, respectively. Senior Tristan Hickis had a touchdown pass and an interception on defense to set up senior James McGrath’s 12-yard score off a jet sweep for a 16-7 halftime lead.
“We’re a different team than we were in the preseason for a variety of reasons and I’m really proud of these guys,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “Some kids are learning new roles and we’re doing a nice job of figuring it out. This is a big win on the road against a good team.”
The Cyclones, who opened the season with back-to-back wins over Clarke and Division, slipped to 2-1.
“Carey has a tremendous program and we just made too many mistakes today,” South Side head coach Phil Onesto said. “Their big players made some big plays and we also unfortunately had some self-inflicted wounds.”
Junior Jayden Radow was front-and-center in Carey’s success throughout. He had several long returns on special teams and was on the receiving end of Hickis’ 27-yard strike that capped the opening drive of the second half and made it 22-6.
Hickis was 10-for-16 for 124 yards, Radow had 7 catches for 97 yards and DePietro 51 yards rushing and a fumble recovery. For South Side, senior Owen Marigliano caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Rob Cesario and senior Brendan Vetter added an interception.
Both teams are back in action Friday. The Cyclones will try to rebound when they travel to Bethpage at 6:30 p.m. Carey has a 4:30 p.m. kickoff at Valley Stream North.
“We’re dealing with some tough injuries, but we have a next-man up mentality,” Anaya said.
