Thursday, October 1, 2026
Down 14 points to Bethpage early in the second quarter of Saturday’s Nassau Conference III football championship game, Wantagh didn’t flinch.
The fourth-seeded Warriors cut the margin to one by halftime and eventually built a 14-point lead of their own before holding on for a 28-21 victory over the third-seeded Golden Eagles at Hofstra University.
“I knew we’d be OK,” Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said. “My goal was to be down seven at halftime since we were getting the ball to start the second half. To get a touchdown just before the half ended was a bonus.”
It’s the first time in program history Wantagh has captured back-to-back county titles. It lost 19 players from last year’s Nassau Conference IV and Long Island Class IV championship team.
“This one took a lot of work but it was a lot of fun seeing this group improve from week to week,” Sachs said. “We always want to be playing our best football at the end of the year. These kids stepped up big.”
The Warriors (8-3) will face unbeaten Sayville (11-0) for the Long Island Class III crown Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Hofstra. Bethpage finished 9-2.
“This feels great but we want one more,” said sophomore Luke Martini, who starred on both sides of the ball with 140 yards rushing and three touchdowns and a clutch interception late in the fourth quarter. “Bethpage is a strong team and put us in a tough spot early, but we stayed calm and confident,” he added.
Bethpage, which fell 35-12 at Wantagh Oct. 17, needed just 13:27 to top its offensive production against the Warriors in the rematch. Senior tight end James LiPetri was wide open for a 45-yard touchdown reception over the middle on just the fifth snap of the game, and senior Chase Solliday had a 1-yard touchdown run on its second possession that covered 76 yards.
Wantagh responded on the ensuing drive, getting a pair of fourth-down conversions from senior Joe Nicholson leading up to Martini’s 15-yard touchdown run with 4:09 remaining in the half.
After a fourth-down stop by the defense on an attempted gadget play by Bethpage at the Warriors 39, it took senior quarterback Carter Loughman & Co. half a dozen plays and a horse-collar penalty to get back in the end zone on Martini’s 10-yard run. And suddenly it was 14-13.
“We didn’t have the ball much in the first half, but we scored on two of three possessions so we felt pretty good,” Sachs said.
Wantagh felt even better when Martini broke a 42-yard touchdown run two minutes into the second half and threw the two-point conversion to junior Joseph Adamo for a 21-14 lead. Loughman’s 21-yard connection to junior Michael Amodio got the drive going.
Then, with the Golden Eagles knocking on the door looking to pull even, a fourth-and-15 pass from the Wantagh 17 landed in the arms of senior Devin Paccione in the end zone. He returned it to the 45 and five plays later Loughman’s 9-yard touchdown run extended the lead to 28-14.
“Carter’s had an incredible year,” Sachs said of Loughman. “We’re a run-first offense, but he’s phenomenal when we need to throw. He’d be great in an offense that throws it 40 times a game.”
Bethpage closed within seven on Solliday’s 4-yard touchdown run with 7:50 remaining and got the ball back inside its own 10 with less than three minutes to play but Martini’s interception sealed the deal.
“Incredible,” Nicholson said. “I’m so proud of our team.”
