Thursday, December 12, 2024
One week after a successful fake punt sparked Carey to its first Nassau County title in 10 years, the Seahawks went deeper into their bag of tricks Friday afternoon and pulled out an all-time victory in the 32-year history of the Long Island football championships.
Senior Christian Todaro’s two-point conversion run off a faked extra-point with 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter lifted Carey to a thrilling come-from-behind 37-36 win over Half Hollow Hills East in an epic L.I. Class II battle before a crowd of 3,000 at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.
“We installed the fake PAT at practice a couple of days ago and it’s just incredible we won the Long Island championship with it,” said Todaro, who had one of the best individual performances in LIC history with four touchdowns, a pair of two-point conversions and the game-sealing interception with 10 seconds left. “I just put my head down and ran,” he added. “It was a great feeling but we knew it wasn’t over because Hills is so dangerous. That last minute felt more like 10.”
Hills East (10-2) drove to the Carey 43 and was looking to get into field-goal range when Todaro fittingly sealed the game picking off a deep throw intended for Lucas Martin, who had three of the RedHawks’ five touchdowns.
“Definitely the best game of my life in any sport,” said Todaro, who hauled in senior quarterback Chris Obertis’ pass from 21 yards out to set up the decisive conversion play, termed “Special.”
After junior Mark Vera’s stunning interception at the Carey 14 with 5:42 remaining rejuvenated the Seahawks, head coach Mike Stanley said thoughts of the “Special” were in the back of his mind as they marched downfield. A roughing the passer penalty kept the drive alive and key yardage by sophomore Justin DePietro (90 yards) and senior Michael Verderosa brought them just outside the red zone.
“These kids executed plays all year and today was no different,” Stanley said. “It’s been an unbelievable ride and I couldn’t be happier for them.”
DiPietro and junior Christian Anaya led the defense with 8 tackles apiece. Senior Luca Cirotti and junior Tristan Hickis both added 7.
Carey (12-0), which never trailed during any of its previous 11 victories, was forced to play catch-up twice and faced a 14-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
“We never put our heads down and just stuck with it,” said Verderosa, who missed the first nine games while recovering from a knee injury. “I can’t put how we’re feeling into words. It’s just amazing.”
Obertis (14 of 18, 244 yards, three touchdowns) directed the offense on an 80-yard scoring drive to cut the margin to 36-29 with 8:34 left. He connected with Verderosa for a 31-yard gain and finished it off with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Theo Andrikopoulos on fourth-and-2.
“Chris had a tremendous season and he was so cool, calm and collected out there,” Stanley said of Obertis. “We knew we needed to soften up their defense and he made some huge throws.”
Obertis had a 73-yard touchdown pass to Todaro midway through the second quarter and a two-yard conversion toss to Michael Agostino for a 22-15 lead. It was knotted at 22 at halftime.
Hills East junior tailback Daniel White dominated the first half with 198 yards rushing and a touchdown. He finished with 244 yards.
“He’s as good a player as we’ve seen,” Stanley said. “We made a few adjustments at halftime that helped. I’m just glad we kind of had the ball last and finished the job.”
