By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Bruins were down by seven when Nolan hooked up with senior Brendan Bellew on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 7:47 remaining. Two possessions later, senior running back Alex Williams used the entire width of the field en route to scoring from 41 yards out with 2:52 left to win it, 21-14.
"Luke had a great week of practice leading up to this game and I wanted to get him in there at some point," Carroll said of Nolan, who will remain second on the depth chart behind senior Paul Murphy for this Friday's home game against Valley Stream Central at 7 p.m. "I was comfortable with what he could do and he definitely lit a fire under everyone. Pulling this one out is big. We haven't put together a full four quarters yet, but at least we've been able to come from behind to win twice."
Any jitters Nolan might have had seemed to disappear after he connected with Williams on a screen pass that went for 30 yards and gave the Bruins possession at the Oceanside 16. Two plays later on a timing pattern, Bellew made a diving catch in the corner of the end zone with a defender draped all over him. Bellew also caught a touchdown pass from Murphy in the first half.
The Bruins improved to 2-1, while the Sailors dropped to 0-3. "They're a good football team," Carroll said. "They're off to a tough start, but I won't be surprised if they rally to make the playoffs."
Oceanside, which goes to Long Beach on Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff, got another fine performance from senior signal-caller Chris Logan. He threw touchdown passes of 25 and 35 yards to seniors Shane Wynn and Mark Godbolt, respectively, and finished with 122 yards through the air and 40 yards on the ground.
"We've reached a point in the season where we can either keep getting better and win some games, or head in the wrong direction," Oceanside coach Mike Janosko said.
The Sailors struck first late in the first quarter, going 64 yards on six plays to take a 7-0 lead. Junior Lance King and Logan had 18 yards rushing apiece to set up Wynn's over-the-shoulder catch on a fly pattern. "We had excellent coverage on both of their touchdowns," Carroll said. "Their quarterback has a dynamite arm."
The Bruins answered late in the first half when Murphy directed an 89-yard drive. Senior Jovan Finch had a key third-down reception to move the ball into enemy real estate, and Williams a 25-yard run to set up Bellew's 3-yard scoring grab.
Defensively, Baldwin was led by senior cornerback Willy Quinn's 10 tackles. Senior Kyle Bonnifer and junior Dominique Alexander, both linebackers, added seven stops apiece.
Comments about this story? tbellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
