By ANDREW COEN
last Saturday when the Marines were unable to handle Garden City’s potent offense in its first meeting with the Trojans since 1989.
Visiting Long Beach had a tough time solving running back Stephen Jahelka, who scampered 42 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and amassed 129 yards on the day to lead the Trojans to a 40-12 victory at Warren King Field. The loss on a misty afternoon dropped the Marines to 2-1.
Garden City (2-1), which was coming off a 20-7 loss to Carey, scored on its first seven possessions with quarterback Matt Montgomery completing seven of nine passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
“We let some of the early adversity get the best of us and we have to learn how to handle that,” said Long Beach head coach Jim Bernhardt, whose team trailed 30-12 at halftime. “I’m disappointed.”
A bright spot for Long Beach was junior wide receiver Kishawn Jefferson, who recorded six catches for 102 yards and had a leaping 12-yard touchdown reception with 3:46 left in the second quarter to cut Garden City’s lead to 27-12. Jefferson also came through on special teams with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the last play of the first quarter.
In Long Beach’s first two games senior running back Brian O’Toole was nearly unstoppable, rushing for 427 yards in wins over Mepham and Cary. But Satruday was a different story. He was held in check by Garden City’s stifling defense and was forced to miss many snaps due to suffering a gash on his chin early in the game. “It took us out of what we like to do,” said Bernhardt of O’Toole’s chin injury, which significantly limited his carries.
Long Beach senior quarterback Sam Mayper was 9-for-18 for 151 yards and one touchdown but threw a costly interception in the second quarter when the Marines trailed 20-6. It led to Garden City’s fourth touchdown.
Penalties plagued Long Beach in the first half with the Marines committing three false starts, something Bernhardt said needs to improve if his team is to be successful for the rest of the way. “You can’t do things like that against teams like Garden City,” he said.
The Marines are back in action this Saturday when they visit Bellmore-JFK for a 3 p.m. kickoff. Their next home game is Oct. 11 against New Hyde Park at 1:30 p.m.
“We’re still optimistic about things,” said Bernhardt. “Hopefully we can learn how to handle [adversity] better.”
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