By ANDREW McCLURE
He didn¹t expect the second half to be as one sided. Senior halfback Steven Alexander ran for 200 yards on 18 carries, and scored three touchdowns, to lead Malverne to a 35-14 Conference IV victory over the Rocks in the annual battle for Ocean Avenue bragging rights. Frank Shanahan added 61 yards on nine carries for the Mules.
³It¹s a tough game each time these teams play,² Britt said. ³A lot of the boys know each other from playing other sports together. It¹s a rivalry, but it¹s a friendly rivalry.²
Malverne, which had a considerable size advantage on the line, ran the ball at will in the second half. The line of Cole Hayes, Joseph Cucinella, Brent Wiseman, Terry Banks, Jr. and Matthew Bates made the game easy for the backfield by blowing open huge holes. The Mules outscored East Rockaway 21-0 in the second half. ³The defense is always a strength of ours, but I was concerned about the offense.² Britt said. ³The guys on the line really stepped up.²
East Rockaway controlled the first quarter, but couldn¹t punch it in. After a 10-yard run by Brian Lantz gave the Rocks a first down a half yard from the end zone; an odd string of events followed. The Rocks botched the snap from center and turned the ball over inside the Mules five. But, on second down, Malverne fumbled the ball deep in its own territory and the Rocks pounced on it. Four plays later, fullback Larry Ulip rumbled into the end zone from four yards out.
The fun continued on the kickoff. Alexander caught the high, but short, kick at the 25-yard line. He broke through the middle and into the clear. Alexander went untouched into the end zone. Senior Shane Murphy blocked the extra point to keep the Rocks ahead by a point. As if that wasn¹t enough, Marc Castellano caught the ensuing kickoff at his own 15-yard line, made a few tacklers miss and was off to the races. After faking out the kicker, Castellano cut right and took the ball down the sideline and into the end zone.
Late in the first half, after a sack by Banks, Jr., East Rockaway was forced to punt. On the first play following the punt, Alexander took a handoff from quarterback Glenn Odem, ran through a huge hole in the middle of the line, and didn¹t stop until he was in the end zone. The point-after attempt, again, was unsuccessful, but Alexander¹s run gave the Mules all the momentum they would need in the second half.
Malverne, 2-1, will host top-seed and defending county champion Roosevelt on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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