Thursday, October 1, 2026
Garden City football’s New York State-record 65th consecutive victory and 10th straight Nassau County title didn’t come easy.
Four Trojans scored touchdowns as they grinded out a 27-12 win over pesky Long Beach in the Conference II championship game Saturday at Hofstra University.
“They gave us a run for our money,” said Garden City senior Merit Ruckh, who rushed for 63 yards and had a 73-yard touchdown reception. “It took everything we had. We overcame some big injuries, but we have a next-man up mentality.”
Garden City (11-0) played without star junior running back Anthony Asaro, out with an ankle injury, and lost junior quarterback Brayden Robertiello late in the second quarter after he rolled an ankle. Still, it never trailed and advanced to face East Islip in the Long Island Class II title game Saturday at noon at Stony Brook University.
The third-seeded Marines, making their second-ever appearance in the county finals and first since 1986, had won seven in a row and finished 8-3.
“Obviously, it was a great game,” Long Beach head coach Scott Martin said. “They made those early plays and we had a tough time getting into the end zone at times. We had our chances.”
Top-seeded Garden City, which after upending the Marines 31-16 in the opener steamrolled its next nine opponents by an average of 41 points, scored on each of its first two possessions in Saturday’s rematch and led 13-0 just 25 seconds into the second quarter.
Long Beach responded after Ruckh’s long touchdown with a 71-yard scoring drive to get within 13-6.
Junior Brody Riedel, who a week earlier starred in a 27-13 semifinal win over Mepham with four touchdowns, had a 24-yard run and a 26-yard catch to set up senior quarterback Charlie Conway’s 6-yard scoring strike to leaping senior Zack Silva in the corner of the end zone.
The Trojans lost Robertiello on their next possession, but junior backup Brendan Benn stepped in admirably. A pair of fourth-down conversions kept the chains and clock moving and they struck again with under a minute to play in the half on a 9-yard touchdown run from senior Chris Desiderio off a double reverse. It was 20-6 at halftime.
Second-half fumble recoveries by junior Kellen de Bruin and Riedel kept the Marines afloat and they turned the second of those takeaways into points to make it a one-possession game. Conway’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Silva (9 catches, 86 yards) with 6:12 remaining cut the margin to 20-12, but the Trojans found a way as they’ve done for a decade and sealed the deal on senior Angelo Cupari’s 12-yard touchdown with less than a minute left.
“It was a battle,” Garden City head coach Dave Ettinger said. “Long Beach has talent all over the field and we knew that coming in. I wasn’t surprised by any of our kids stepping up and getting the job done. It was a hard-fought win.”
It’s been nearly 40 years since a Long Beach team got this far.
“I’m upset for our guys, especially the seniors,” Martin said. “We had a great season. It was a record-breaking season in many ways. I’m very happy with the effort of all the kids and staff.”
