By TONY BELLISSIMO
Senior Rob Braun scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter and gave the first-place Seahawks (5-1) momentum for good with an 83-yard kickoff return for a score to make it 26-14. Junior Greg D’Arienzo rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns and senior Joe Gregorio added a touchdown catch and an interception. The Marines (3-3) were led by Brian O’Toole’s 216 yards on the ground and two scores.
“They’re tough to defend and we struggled early,” Carey coach Mike Stanley said. “It took us a while to get going. But I thought the offensive line should get some credit. Those guys did a nice job and we moved the ball well despite some dropped passes.”
Senior quarterback Luke Zahradka went 9-for-27 for 127 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in windy conditions. He was razor sharp on fourth down, going 4-for-5 including a 5-yard scoring strike to Gregorio with 17 seconds left in the first half and a 23-yard touchdown toss to Braun midway through the third quarter. “Luke threw the ball great,” Stanley said. “We had a lot of drops for the second week in a row. It’s an area of concern but it’s something we can fix.”
A week after a 35-21 loss at Elmont, the Seahawks fell behind when Long Beach marched 69 yards on 10 plays to score on its first possession. O’Toole, who proved a handful all afternoon, accounted for every inch of the drive and capped it with a 15-yard touchdown burst up the middle. The extra-point attempt failed.
Carey dominated the second quarter and moved inside the red zone on each of its three possessions and cashed in twice. D’Arienzo got the Seahawks on the board with 3:12 remaining in the half with a 2-yard touchdown run, and Chris Siegenthaler’s extra-point made it 7-6. The offense went back to work after senior Sal Cerami recovered a fumble by O’Toole. It took 11 plays to go 40 yards, but Zahradka eventually got them into the end zone when he hit Gregorio on a quick screen.
It was 20-6 late in the third when Long Beach showed it wasn’t about to go down without a fight. Kishawn Jefferson caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Sam Mayper, and O’Toole added the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to six. The play of the day followed. Braun scooped up Dashaun Moye’s kickoff at his own 17, picked up a few blocks and raced along the right sideline for a touchdown. “It was timely,” Stanley said.
The Seahawks, who were led on defense by senior Joe Fasano’s 10 tackles, hope to get senior linebackers Chris Humrich and Jason Alvino back for Saturday’s home game against Mepham at 1:30 p.m.
“We just have to keep plugging away,” Stanley said.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
