By Joseph Kellard
For Farmingdale, Nassau County's two-time defending champions, the name of the game was rushing, and their committee of running backs did so consistently en route to a 30-7 victory over Oceanside.
The Dalers' Joe Zucchero had 11 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns, Chris Daro ran 107 yards on 15 carries, and Dave Probst scored touchdowns on two of his three runs.
After Farmingdale scored four touchdowns in the first half, linebacker Andrew Leibstien's sack on the last play of the second quarter set the Sailors' defensive tone for the next half. Although Farmingdale drove the ball 71 yards to Oceanside's 3-yard line to start the fourth quarter, the Sailors' D held the line on first-and-goal and forced the Dalers to kick a field goal, their only points in the second half.
Oceanside's offense, however, struggled throughout the game, as Farmingdale's D consistently stuffed the run and pressured or hit starting quarterback Matt Wynn. "We couldn't run the ball," Sailors head coach Mike Jonosko told the Herald, "and when you can't run the ball, they know you're going to throw, and they start to tee off on the pass rush. Matt was getting banged up."
The Sailors' best opportunities to put up some points came in the second and third quarters. Trailing 21-0 early in the second, they drove from their 26-yard line to Farmingdale's 44, after Wynn hooked up with wide receiver Bobby Engelhard on a 30-yard pass. But the drive stalled and Oceanside opted to punt.
After the Sailors recovered a fumble at Farmingdale's 35-yard-line with 6:45 left in the third, Wynn dropped back on each down but threw three incompletions, forcing another punt.
By the fourth quarter, both teams were playing their backups. The Herold-led touchdown drive began at Oceanside's 30-yard-line against the Dalers' mostly second-string defense.
"I think Matt showed a lot of toughness in getting up from some of those hits," Jonosko said, explaining why he took his starting QB out. "It was down the stretch and the game was basically out of reach, and I thought it was time to get Tom some work."
Driving downfield, Herold hit Engelhard for two first-down passes, one a 17-yarder from Oceanside's 30-yard line. On fourth-and-eight from the Dalers' 16 with 2:41 left, Harold rolled out right and tossed the ball to running back Brian Kirschner, who backpedaled into the end zone and clutched the ball as he fell for the score.
"I think we did play much better in the second half," Jonosko said, "and we're going to look to build on that."
The 0-2 Sailors will seek to start reconstructing their season when they visit Port Washington on Saturday.
