Pandemonium struck LIU Post Saturday afternoon.
No. 1 Cold Spring Harbor’s Ciara Luparello found Serena Glantz in the back of the end zone as time expired, beating No. 3 East Rockaway 18-13, in the Nassau Class C flag football championship game.
On the game-winning drive, Luparello found Eloise Rose on a 50-50 ball, as Rose and the East Rockaway defender fought for possession over the middle of the field. It was ruled a catch and the clock stopped at two seconds for Cold Spring Harbor, trailing 13-12, to get the spike off after the officials discussed the play. Those events set up the winning score.
“The girls have been resilient all year,” said Cold Spring Harbor head coach Jon Mendreski. “They have never backed down when their backs were against the wall, so I didn’t expect them to start doing that today.”
East Rockaway took a 13-0 lead into the fourth quarter, with a 30-yard touchdown run from Ava Caradonna in the third and another from the junior in the third with 7:50 to go. She ran for 127 yards on 21 attempts.
Luparello added two more scores on the ground, with both coming in the final frame and 109 yards on 16 attempts. The second scamper for a score came with 2:44 to go in the fourth and a failed extra-point try kept the Rocks up 13-12.
Dayanara Jose Merino was all over the field defensively for East Rockaway, coming away with multiple flag pulls and key defensive stops to keep her team in the game.
“Merino is a young rising junior,” East Rockaway head coach Fred Cange said. “She’s really big for our team as a rusher. I thought she should have been considered for defensive player of the year in our conference, but she’s just a game changer.”
Danilynn Fardella knifed her way through Cold Spring Harbor’s defense all afternoon, even lowering her shoulder for extra yardage. The senior finished with 52 yards on 10 attempts, with the longest coming on a 23-yard gain to set up the first touchdown run from Cardonna.
Madison Prelesnick and Kylie Lazaro impressed Cange this season, and with only one graduating senior on the defensive side of the ball, East Rockaway will trot out just about the same defense that shut out the top seed in its conference for three quarters.
Cange’s goal was to finish with double-digit wins; he accomplished that and then some, winning 11 games including a 7-6 semifinal playoff victory over Locust Valley and taking a trip to the finals. He had a message for Nassau County.
“We battled hard regardless of what anybody thought we were going to do,” Cange said. “The message to the rest of the league is, we’re coming back. We’ll be right back here next year, hopefully stronger than ever and hopefully we get over the hump this time.”
