By TONY BELLISSIMO
Long Beach’s senior running back gained 228 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead the Marines to a convincing 41-0 Conference II football victory over visiting Great Neck South last Friday night in the opener.
O’Toole scored on the first offensive play of the season and added a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to lead a ground attack that amassed 408 yards. Sophomore Damon Whitfield added 97 yards rushing and one touchdown, and seniors Sam Mayper and Taequann Washington also scored.
“It was a nice way to start,” said Jim Bernhardt, whose second stint as Long Beach head coach started with a bang when O’Toole ripped off a 56-yard touchdown run two minutes into the game. “I’m happy for the kids. We didn’t get to play a scrimmage, so this was our first game situation. Considering the circumstances and weather, it turned out better than I expected.”
After a Marines defense sparked by linemen Ed Gennusa and Dashaun Moye forced the Rebels to punt away their first possession, Bernhardt couldn’t have scripted the first offensive play of 2008 any better. Once Mayper took the snap from senior center Robert Oquendo and handed the ball to O’Toole, the chase was on. O’Toole ran outside the tackles and dashed along the west sideline to make it 6-0. “You can’t get a better first play result than that,” Bernhardt said. “Brian’s a talented back. He’s learning to finish off his runs, and his style fits our system.”
O’Toole carried three times for 30 yards on the next possession and also drew a facemask penalty that moved the ball inside the red zone. Two plays after the flag, Whitfield scored on an 11-yard run. Mayper then found sophomore Cedrick Coad for the two-point conversion to make it 14-0. “We wanted to come out and be physical, and I thought we brought a good level of intensity,” Bernhardt said.
Two minutes into the second quarter, O’Toole struck again. He went 47 yards up the gut, breaking a few tackles and avoiding a few puddles en route to the end zone. He scored from 23 yards out late in the third quarter, and interceptions by senior David Berkowitz and junior Marcus Guma preserved the shutout.
“We have things to clean up like every other team in the world,” Bernhardt said. “I thought we took a good amount of what we practiced into the first game. Now we have to find out how we’re going to handle things when a tougher team comes along.”
Mepham visits Long Beach on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Pirates, seeded two spots above the Marines at No. 8, dropped their opener at Garden City, 19-0. “There’s not a lot to know about each other this early in the season,” Bernhardt said, “but it looks like Mepham hung in there against a formidable opponent.”
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
