Clarke tops West Hempstead in battle of Rams

Tied in the win column entering last Friday’s Nassau Conference IV football showdown under the lights, big plays separated high-scoring Clarke from gritty West Hempstead in a battle of Rams.
Clarke senior quarterback Anthony Caputo and senior wideout Arton Dalipi hooked up for touchdowns of 65, 53 and 32 yards in the second quarter, with the latter coming on the final play of the half, to spark the visitors to a 34-21 victory.
Caputo opening the scoring with a 65-yard touchdown run, and junior Lucas Abbatiello capped Clarke’s fourth win in five games with a 21-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds remaining. “We’re psyched,” said Caputo, who guided an offense that put up at least 29 points for the fourth time. “We’ve put ourselves in position to have a strong season.”
Senior Frank Messina (125 yards), junior Jerry Forti and sophomore Jaden Mason all had touchdown runs for West Hempstead (3-2), which trailed by 22 at halftime but got within a score with 3:00 remaining in the fourth quarter. “I think all of our backs ran great, but we just couldn’t defend the pass,” West Hempstead head coach Dom Carre said.
Clarke scored twice in the final three minutes of the second quarter to lead 28-6 at halftime. “We had a feeling they were going to load the box and we’d be able to take some shots down the field,” Clarke head coach Tim O’Malley said. “West Hempstead is always a tough team that plays hard for four quarters, so this is a nice win.”

A fumble recovery by junior lineman Chris Perez at midfield set up the second Caputo-to-Dalipi connection in as many possessions, a 53-yarder followed by a two-point conversion run by senior Austin Carman to make it 20-6 with 2:58 left in the half. West Hempstead followed with a Messina-led drive that stalled just outside the red zone, leaving Caputo & Co. about a minute to make something happen.
Aided by a couple of timeouts, Clarke used a mix of passes and runs to move just outside the West Hempstead 30 with time for one more play. Caputo faked a handoff to Abbatiello and hit Dalipi with a deep ball just inside the pylon for a 32-yard touchdown. “I told the kids I didn’t want them feeling deflated because we played a solid first half,” Carre said. “It’s a game of momentum,”
West Hempstead didn’t put its heads down, and marched 82 yards in six-plus minutes to open the second half to cut the margin to 28-14 on Mason’s 18-yard touchdown run and Messina’s two-point run.
A strip and fumble recovery by senior Sean Plasencia gave West Hempstead life late in the fourth quarter with the ball at the Clarke 28 and less than five minutes remaining. The turnover set up Forti’s 5-yard touchdown, and Messina booted the PAT to get the hosts within seven.
Clarke junior Nick Captuo recovered the ensuing squib kick at the 40, and Abbatiello raced 35 yards on a key third-and-6 to keep the drive alive and the clock moving. Three plays later, Abbatiello sealed the outcome.