By Brian Zanzonico
His No. 2 seed Seahawks dominated No. 3 Elmont in last Friday's Nassau Conference II semifinal at James H. Shuart Stadium at Hofstra University to give the school a shot at its first conference championship in 27 years.
Facing Elmont's explosive senior halfback Peter Russell, Carey's front seven were able to get enough push against the Spartan line to keep him in control. Once Carey's offense got in a rhythm, Elmont was forced to depart from their running game and took to the air - with disastrous results. The Seahawks intercepted Elmont senior quarterbacks Mitchell Jackson (twice) and Kenneth Thompson and were beneficiaries of senior kicker Eric Vollmer's tricky squib kickoffs that often pinned the Spartans deep or broke down its return game entirely. The end result was a 34-7 Carey win and a trip to the Conference II title game against Garden City on Friday at 5:45 p.m. at Hofstra.
"Take nothing away from the '74 Rutgers Cup champs or the '78 team that won the conference championship, but you've got to put this right up there," said McLees, the school's coach since 1991. Junior halfback Matt Zaffuto, who victimized Elmont for four scores in Carey's 26-19 win on Oct. 1, accounted for three touchdowns and had 70 hard fought yards on 17 carries. But don't call him the game's star.
"That's [senior center] Matt deBonis," Zaffuto said. "Without him, the offense wouldn't run. [Senior halfback] T.J. [Humrich] and I are good running backs, but without our center, we couldn't run this offense."
McLees praised the entire Carey offensive line for handling Elmont's front five of seniors James King, Finlay Kersaint, Brian Millsaps, and Ernest Pope, and junior Anthony March.
"Our 'O' line did a tremendous job all season," McLees said. "They take pride in opening holes for all the backs."
Zaffuto opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. Elmont responded with a five-minute drive that culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by Russell, who had eight carries for 48 yards on the drive.
Carey reclaimed the lead with 1:36 to go in the first half when Zaffuto took the handoff at Elmont's 4-yard-line and outran Spartans junior defensive back Oneyma Oweazim to the right corner for the score. The Seahawks failed on a two-point conversion after Elmont was flagged for roughing the kicker during the extra point attempt and Elmont lead, 13-7.
Elmont marched to the Carey 18-yard-line on the ensuing drive, highlighted by an acrobatic, leaping catch by Oweazim (playing receiver) over two defenders for a 31-yard gain. With 13 seconds left in the half Jackson spotted Oweazim in the end zone, but the ball was under thrown and intercepted by Carey senior defensive back John Balbuena.
The Seahawks scored on the first drive of the second half on a 2-yard touchdown run by sophomore fullback Jamie Spanopoulos. Senior quarterback Brian Gottlieb hit junior tight end John Cerami in the back of the end zone on the two-point conversion to put Carey up, 21-7.
On 2nd-and-7 from the Carey 45-yard-line on the next series, junior quarterback Joel Jackson took the snap and pitched the ball to Thompson too early, tossing the ball behind his fullback and the line of scrimmage, causing a fumble. DeBonis, playing defensive line, scooped up the ball and rumbled to the Elmont 10-yard-line. He cleared the way for Zaffuto's third TD of the game and set the stage for a blowout.
Up next: Garden City
Winners of three Conference II titles since 2000, No. 1 seed Garden City is looking to win back-to-back championships. Carey came out strong against the Trojans in the Seahawks 38-14 loss on Oct. 30, becoming the first team to score first against them all season.
The odds are stacked against his Seahawks, but if the regular season matchup was any indication, Carey can play with the Trojans. First order of business: hold onto the pigskin.
"Garden City and [Head Coach] Tom Flatley are the class of Nassau County football," McLees said. "They have a great program every year. We have to take care of the football."
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