By STEVE SINISKI
"If you ask me to recap it I couldn't," East Meadow coach Vin Mascia said. "It was an unbelievable game, under extreme circumstances with an unbelievable opponent. We showed tremendous character. We started slow but didn't fold the tent. The kids were unbelievable."
The Jets now move on to the Long Island Championship game against the top team in Suffolk County's League I, unbeaten Floyd (10-0). Kickoff is scheduled for noon this Friday at Shuart Stadium.
Andrew Rubenau picked off his second pass of the game with no time remaining, coming down with Shannon Robinson's 60-yard heave at the East Meadow 8 and putting an exclamation mark on the Jets first-ever Nassau County Championship. It also erased any hopes of a last-gasp comeback by the Red Devils, who took a short-lived 34-28 lead on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to Donnie Hodge with just 1:59 remaining.
Trailing by six with less than two minutes to play, memories of last season's final-second loss to Baldwin in the Conference I semifinals certainly popped into the minds of many. Backed by the bittersweet taste of that defeat, however, East Meadow calmly marched down the field, moving 60 yards in just five plays to drive home the game-winning score.
"Last year's experience showed the guys that it could happen to them," Masica said. "This year showed it was time to do it to someone else."
The game-winning drive took just 57 seconds, and proved to be the knockout punch in a game of "Can You Top This." Quarterback Mike Tracy capped the drive with an 11-yard run to the end zone on second down.
"I didn't see a head down," East Meadow's Chris Bright, the game's Most Valuable Player, said of the huddle at the start of the gut-wrenching final scoring drive. "We knew we could do it."
The drive started with a 4-yard run by Tracy and the Jets got an additional 15 yards on a personal foul call when Tracy was hit out of bounds. Bright then ripped off three runs totaling 30 yards before Tracy's number was called again. "He was a man among boys," East Meadow coach Vin Mascia said of Bright, who stepped in for an injured Alex Rivas after halftime and ran for 87 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. "He made some runs that I can't even believe."
At the top of that list would have to be Bright's 12-yard run in the third quarter that gave the Jets a 22-14 advantage. Hit just past the line of scrimmage, he managed to twist his way through the Red Devils defense and spun his way into the end zone. His strong play didn't end there, however. He also had a bruising 22-yard run in the fourth quarter, bowling over several Freeport defenders at the line of scrimmage after appearing to be stopped for a short gain. Ten yards downfield he dropped a shoulder, flattening a Red Devils defender at the 40-yard line and adding more yardage to the play. Bright added several big hits on defense and also prevented a punt block in the third quarter when he flattened Freeport's Chris Edmonds on a blitz pickup.
The Red Devils took a 7-0 lead on their first play from scrimmage, when Edmond turned a sweep right into a 69-yard scoring run. Two plays after a Rubenau fumble on a punt return, Hodge reeled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Robinson. The Jets made good on their next drive, however, turning to Freeport's worst nightmare, Alex Rivas. The junior, who ran for four touchdowns in the previous meeting between the teams, added another score in the County Championship. The 235-pounder carried the ball five times for 27 yards, as the Jets put together a defense draining 14-play, 75-yard drive that had the Red Devils stop unit on the field for 7:06. Rivas scored from 8 yards out and Tracy ran in the two-point attempt to cut the deficit to 14-8.
Rubenau led the way on the ground with 121 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, the biggest an 80-yard scoring run late in the third quarter. His other touchdown, from 12 yards out, put East Meadow on top 15-14 with just 45 seconds left in the first half. Rivas ran for 85 yards on a team-high 14 carries, as the Jets totaled 342 yards rushing.
