By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Spartans, who split their first four games, had a lot to prove heading into last Saturday’s showdown with the Seahawks and scored on their first four possessions en route to a much-needed 35-21 victory. Senior running back Justin Mayers had 125 yards and three touchdowns and senior defensive end Nikita Josephs recovered two fumbles, the second of which he brought back 70 yards for the game-clinching touchdown with two minutes remaining.
“It was a huge win,” Elmont coach Jay Hegi said. “We had to have it. I thought we shot ourselves in the foot in the games we lost to Calhoun and Hewlett. The way we played today is how we’re capable of playing all the time.”
Elmont improved to 3-2 but still has work to do in what has become a wide-open conference. Carey, Calhoun, Hewlett and Garden City are all 4-1. The Spartans travel to Jericho this Saturday, host Garden City on Oct. 25 and close the regular season at New Hyde Park on Nov. 1. “We have a lot of firepower,” Hegi said. “We had a great day moving the ball against a tough defense.”
After Carey grabbed the early lead on quarterback Luke Zahradka’s 10th touchdown pass of the year (23 yards to Rob Braun), Elmont scored 20 straight points. Mayers sandwiched a pair of touchdown runs around a 20-yard scoring reception by Jason White, then Zahradka brought the Seahawks within 20-14 at the half with a 3-yard scoring dash late in the second quarter.
Mayers sparked the Spartans on the first possession of the second half when he capped a long drive with a 14-yard touchdown run. He enters the Jericho game with nine touchdowns. “Justin makes plays that are just amazing,” Hegi said. “He’s definitely our go-to guy.”
Junior Greg D’Arienzo is one of Carey’s key weapons, and his presence was felt Saturday as he went for 179 yards rushing and a touchdown, which cut Elmont’s lead to 28-21 midway through the fourth quarter. The Seahawks got the ball back and were driving when Zahradka was sacked by Sebastian Clerge. Josephs scooped up a fumble officials allowed to stand and took it the distance to seal Carey’s first defeat of 2008.
“We picked a bad day to have a bad game,” Seahawks coach Mike Stanley said. “Their offense pounded us, especially in the first half. I thought we hung in there and did some good things, but we were caught out of position on defense a lot and we dropped too many passes on Luke.”
Next up for Carey is a trip to Long Beach on Saturday. The Marines, at 3-2, already have more wins than a year ago when they competed in Conference I. “They’re going to be up to play us,” Stanley said.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000, ext. 204.
