Thursday, October 1, 2026
After two-time defending Nassau Conference III and Long Island champion Plainedge cruised to a 19th consecutive football victory, 35-7 at Wantagh last Saturday behind quarterback Caden Morra and two-way star Shane Mosia, the postgame message to the Warriors from head coach Keith Sachs was simple.
“Our job is to see them again,” Sachs said. “Today was for the No. 1 seed and nothing more. We didn’t play well. We’ve gotten better each week but there were a lot of things we could’ve done better today. It’s OK. We have to go back to work and earn a rematch.”
With the Red Devils (7-0) and Warriors (6-1) locked into the top two seeds, if a rematch is going to happen it’ll be on the county championship stage at Hofstra on Nov. 19 at 12:30 p.m. Wantagh closes the regular season this Saturday at Glen Cove and will host a first-round playoff game Nov. 6.
Wantagh’s defense hadn’t allowed more than a touchdown in any game through six weeks but was solved twice in the opening quarter by Plainedge, which led 21-0 at halftime.
Morra threw touchdown passes on each of the first two possessions and finished with 111 yards through the air and 53 on the ground. He connected with Braden Donnellan for a 37-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring and wasn’t on the sideline long as the Red Devils pulled off a surprise on-side kick, recovered by Mosia on the Wantagh 47.
Four plays later, Morra hit Mosia all alone behind the secondary for a 39-yard touchdown pass and it was 14-0 after James Corke’s second of five straight extra-point kicks.
“The onside kick was a good call by them and we failed to make a play on it,” Sachs said. “That made it a two-score game early and we were playing catch-up all day.
“We talked all week about trying to get a lead and seeing how they’d react because it’s something they’re not used to,” he added. “Good teams make you pay for mistakes. There were a few examples where we blew an assignment and they turned it into a touchdown.”
Plainedge extended its lead in the second quarter after Robert Marx returned an interception to the Wantagh 18. Four plays later, Mosia scored on a 2-yard run for the 21-0 halftime lead.
Mosia scored again from 14 yards out to cap the opening drive of the second half and it was 28-0. The Warriors got on the board on the ensuing kickoff when senior Tim Hennig busted 96 yards down the middle for a touchdown, but the offense failed to cash in any of its possessions.
Joe Cassese added a 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to seal Plainedge’s win, which tied its smallest margin of victory this season. The Red Devils defeated Carey 28-0 in Week 2.
“We have to focus on what teams are in front of us before we can talk Plainedge again,” Sachs said.
