Spotting Sayville two touchdowns in Friday’s Long Island Class III football championship game wasn’t an ideal situation for Wantagh, but falling behind early was nothing new and nothing it hadn’t overcome many times.
It was the fifth time in six weeks the Warriors trailed in the first half, but for a fourth time they rallied to lead. However, they just couldn’t stop Sayville’s ground attack featuring senior tailback Tristan Vitale and senior quarterback Patrick Coan from writing a different ending.
Vitale rushed for 239 yards and five touchdowns and Coan added 229 yards rushing and a score as the Golden Flashes capped an undefeated season with an exciting 42-35 victory at Hofstra University. It’s the eighth L.I. title for Sayville (12-0) in program history.
“We’ve been finding ways to win games all year, just not today,” Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said. “We’ve been coming out of the gate and giving up points early every week. It’s hard to come back every time.
“To watch these guys get better every week, win a county championship and leave it all out on the field today was special,” he added. “We thought we had one more miracle left. But you know what, they played their [butts] off. I’m really so proud of them.”
The Warriors (8-4) were led by their fantastic four: seniors Joe Nicholson, Devin Paccione and quarterback Carter Loughman, and sophomore Luke Martini. Loughman fired touchdown passes to each of the other three and passes for 278 yards. Nicholson and Martini added rushing touchdowns as well. Paccione had 121 receiving yards and two interceptions. Martini had 11 tackles.
Both teams scored at least one touchdown in every quarter, and the extra points were automatic with Sayville senior Henry Reiss going 6-for-6 and Wantagh sophomore Brendon Wood hitting 5 of 5.
Wood also hit a perfectly placed on-side kick that nearly sparked a Warriors comeback in the fourth quarter.
After Vitale’s 10-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth gave the Golden Flashes a 42-28 lead, Wantagh responded with a 71-yard scoring drive highlighted by a 38-yard catch by Paccione on fourth-and-4 to keep the chains moving. Martini’s 7-yard touchdown run cut the margin in half, then senior Luke Gonsowski recovered the ensuing on-side kid.
But, Sayville’s defense allowed just one first down on that possession and bent but didn’t break on what would be the Warriors’ final drive of the season. Wantagh moved from its own 24 to the Sayville 47 when on fourth-and-13 Luke Neugebauer’s interception sealed it.
“Up front we really did a great job,” said Sayville head coach Robert Hoss, whose team racked up 555 total yards behind the offensive line of composed of tackles Richard Fontanetta and Chase Neugebauer, guards Ben Kloska and Austin LaRosa, center Alex LaBella. “They hurt us with some big plays in the first half,” he added. “Chunk plays have been a problem for us all year, but we’ve been resilient all year.”
