By TONY BELLISSIMO
The Sailors earned their way into the win column for the first time in 2008 last Saturday night, beating visiting Herricks 33-15 behind young quarterback Gene Garay and linebackers Joe Swanson, Zach Zassman and Alon Nisim. Garay rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns, while the defensive trio combined for 22 tackles, an interception and a blocked punt.
"We're happy to get a win," Oceanside coach Mike Janosko said. "It was an abbreviated week of practice because of the holidays, but Herricks was in the same boat. I wasn't thrilled with how we played in the second half, but we were sharp in the first half and made some big plays."
The tone was set on the opening kickoff when senior Anthony Suppa recovered a fumble caused by junior Jeremy Lee's hit. That put Garay and Co. in business deep in Herricks territory, and senior running back Lance King got the party started with an 8-yard touchdown run. Garay, a sophomore, then capped a long scoring drive on Oceanside's next possession to make it 14-0 after the first quarter.
"Gene's growing into a leader," Janosko said of Garay, who took hold of the starting job in the second half of a 34-14 loss at MacArthur on Sept. 19 when he replaced junior Danny Frisch and promptly ran for 67- and 62-yard touchdowns. "He can do a lot of damage with his legs, but we're still trying to run the same kind of offense as we did the past few years with Chris [Logan]."
After Herricks cut the Sailors' lead in half, sophomore Nick Sherry busted free for a 49-yard touchdown jaunt to make it 20-7. Fortunately for the Highlanders it stayed that way at halftime. A controversial call with seconds remaining in the second quarter nullified a touchdown catch by Swanson (nine tackles, blocked punt), and a field-goal try by junior kicker Danny Goldstein was blocked.
A penalty filled third quarter saw Herricks close the gap to 20-15, but the last 12 minutes belonged to the Sailors. Garay's 28-yard touchdown run, Zassman's interception and Nisim's 3-yard touchdown run were the key plays down the stretch. "The third quarter was ugly but we had great field position the rest of the game and cashed in on a few drives," Janosko said. "The only disappointing thing was the penalties. We got too many flags."
Oceanside (1-3) will try to carry its momentum into this Saturday's home game against Hicksville (1-3) at 2 p.m. The Comets upset East Meadow two weeks ago but have been blanked by Plainview-JFK and MacArthur and blown out by Freeport.
"We're a young team looking to get better each game," Janosko said.
Comments about this story? TBellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
