It’s difficult enough to beat Wantagh’s football team twice in the same season, nonetheless trying to rally from three scores down a second time against the Warriors.
Five weeks after Clarke scored 20 unanswered points to stun Wantagh in a season-defining win, the Rams were unable to muster a similar response after digging an early hole in Saturday’s rematch.
Sophomore Luke Martini rushed for 283 yards and one touchdown, senior Joe Nicholson added 110 yards and two scores, and senior quarterback Carter Loughman and senior receiver Devin Paccione hooked up five times for 67 yards and a touchdown to lead No. 4 Wantagh to a convincing 38-17 victory in a Nassau Conference III first-round playoff matchup.
“The defense got us going early with a takeaway and I thought we showed up in every facet of the game,” Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said. “Clarke’s a good team and they got us the first time around, but we knew we’d be ready to play a better game today.”
The Warriors (6-3), who last season captured the Nassau Conference IV and Long Island Class IV championships, advance to face top-seeded Carey in the semifinals next Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hofstra University. Wantagh defeated the Seahawks, who won Nassau Conference II and L.I. Class II titles in 2024, 41-23 Oct. 25.
Senior quarterback Matt Kurz had both touchdowns for the Rams, who finished 6-3.
“For whatever reason, we came out a little flat and had a bad tackling game against two of the best running backs in the conference,” Clarke head coach Kevin O’Hagan said. “We fought back a couple of times, but we just couldn’t wrap those guys up. It was a great season although we’re disappointed not advancing to Hofstra because we felt we were good enough.”
Wantagh set the tone early with junior Joseph Adamo picking off a pass on the game’s third play to set up Loughman & Co. in ideal field position at the Clarke 22. The unit went to work behind an offensive line consisting of Ryan Martone, Thomas Christoforidis, Patrick Forthofer, Shane Adee and Vincenzo Fullone and needed just five plays to open the scoring on Loughman’s 1-yard touchdown run.
“Everyone was dialed in and brought it today,” Loughman said. “The first time we played Clarke we shot ourselves in the foot. We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.”
The Warriors also scored on their next possession with sophomore kicker Brendon Wood, who was perfect on the day, booting a 19-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Kurz cut the margin to 10-8 midway through the second after junior Victor Rosario recovered a muffed punt inside the Wantagh 10, setting up his 9-yard burst up the middle. Senior Alex Frank added the two-point conversion.
But Wantagh responded with back-to-back touchdown drives. It went 68 yards just before halftime and scored on a beautiful misdirection pass from Loughman to Paccione covering 16 yards and the lead was 17-8 at halftime. Nicholson then capped a 78-yard touchdown drive to open the second half with a 1-yard run and the advantage swelled to 24-7.
“We thought we needed to make a stop coming out of halftime and we didn’t,” O’Hagan said. “They also ate up half the quarter and time wasn’t on our side.”
