By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Bruins drove 61 yards for a touchdown following the takeaway and went on to stun the second-seeded Red Devils 35-27. Baldwin, which lost 18-0 to Freeport during the regular season, advanced to face top-seeded Farmingdale in the championship game on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at
Hofstra.
"We're a difficult team to understand," Baldwin coach Steve Carroll said. "It seems like we need something to light a fire under us, and tonight it was the fumble. We had confidence in our ability to come back because we've done it so much."
The Bruins (7-2) rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Hempstead in their playoff opener, 29-22, and had four come-from-behind regular-season victories. When they played Farmingdale (9-0) on Oct. 20, they scored first but not again in a 34-7 defeat. "We're a much different team than we were a month ago," Carroll explained.
Freeport learned that at Hofstra after racing to a 14-0 advantage. The Red Devils drove 99 yards on 16 plays on their opening possession and 73 yards on three plays the next time they touched the ball to put the Bruins in a familiar position. Cornell Kelly then picked off a pass at the Baldwin 37-yard line, but Freeport gave the ball right back. Junior quarterback Luke Nolan, who was razor-sharp after the interception, orchestrated a crucial scoring drive to get the Bruins on the scoreboard. He got it started with an 11-yard scramble that ended with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Freeport, bringing the ball to the Red Devils' 35. Finch followed with a 19-yard run off a reverse, and senior Joey Giampiccolo had two carries to set up first-and-goal. Then, on second down, Nolan followed sophomore center Andrew Gubelli's lead into the end zone. "Once we scored we settled down," Carroll said. "We couldn't afford to fall behind by more." Baldwin never had to worry about playing catch-up after Jovan Finch's 46-yard touchdown run and Andrew Martinez's extra point made it 14-14 with 2:45 to go in the first half. After the defense forced a Freeport punt, senior Alex Williams ran for 23 yards to set up a 5-yard scoring jaunt by Giampiccolo. Suddenly, it was 20-14.
"We had a lot of film on Freeport, and the game we watched the most was when they beat us at our place," Carroll explained. "It helped us make some adjustments."
The Bruins' offensive front (Gubelli and seniors Kyle Bonnifer, Zicky Villette, Ian Ball and Dan McHale) and defensive secondary (seniors Willy Quinn and Sergio Anglade, and juniors Martinez and Joe Ednie) made the lead hold up. "Our offensive line took the bull by the horns," Carroll said.
Senior Brendan Bellew's leaping 20-yard touchdown catch and Ednie's two-point conversion reception upped the lead to 28-14 late in the third quarter. Freeport got to within 28-21 just 26 seconds into the fourth, but Finch (137 yards on 10 carries) busted free for a 52-yard touchdown with less than four minutes to go to all but seal the deal.
"Adrian [Gibbons] opened up a hole just big enough for Jovan to get through," Carroll said. "Once he got through the first wall of defenders, he was gone. He really took off."
Freeport quarterback Dermott Kramer, who had a touchdown run and a touchdown pass in the regular-season matchup, completed only 6 of 22 throws for 61 yards. "We didn't sack him, but we chased him down a lot and forced some bad throws," Carroll said. "Our defense really stepped up after those first two drives."
The Bruins will try to win their second championship in three years on Saturday night, and they will probably have to stop Farmingdale's workhorse back, TaShawn Arthur (14 touchdowns), to do it. Arthur had three touchdowns in the Oct. 20 meeting. "I'd much rather try to figure out how we'll stop him than collect equipment," Carroll said.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
