By TONY BELLISSIMO
The visiting Spartans escaped with a thrilling 34-27 victory on senior Tyshaun Mack's 32-yard touchdown reception with 44 seconds remaining. Mack's grab of senior quarterback Michael Ward's pass capped a five-play, 75-yard drive for Elmont, which spoiled the home opener for the Cyclones.
"We went trips and caught them with one cornerback on two receivers, and Tyshaun came down with the ball," Elmont coach Jay Hegi said. "We almost shot ourselves in the foot with four more turnovers. We have 10 in the first two games. That's a full season's worth."
One of those giveaways allowed South Side to make it 20-20 early in the third quarter. Ward, who lost two fumbles and wasn't sharp until the winning drive, was picked off by senior Kyle Smith, who returned it 47 yards for a touchdown and added the extra point. "Michael is still learning," Hegi said. "He came up big when he had to."
Sophomore running back Diashawn Miller, who had 127 yards on the ground, scored his second touchdown early in the fourth to put Elmont back on top. A missed two-point conversion try almost proved costly after the Cyclones took a 27-26 lead on senior Mackenzie Krush's 12-yard scoring reception, which was followed by Smith's extra-point kick with 1:48 to go.
"We showed up, which is something we didn't do last week," South Side coach Walter Denton said. "It hurts to let this one get away. They needed a last-minute score to win and got it."
The Cyclones, who coughed up the ball three times, got a fine performance from junior signal-caller Dominick Piselli. He twice hooked up with Krush for a touchdown and also found junior Robert Remy five times.
Coming off a dismal performance in a 33-0 loss to MacArthur, it took only 2:01 for the Cyclones' offense to put up its first points of 2007. Junior Marc Arcuri recovered a fumbled punt at the Elmont 29-yard line, setting up Piselli's 29-yard touchdown strike to Krush on the next play. Later in the first half, junior Nick O'Reilly followed a key block by senior K.J. Young and scored from 29 yards out. But O'Reilly fumbled away the next possession and the Spartans cashed in when Miller plowed through the middle for a 1-yard touchdown.
Elmont, which hosts Jericho on Saturday at 2 p.m., was led defensively by senior Brian Cole's eight tackles and two sacks.
Comments about this story? Tbellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
