East Meadow Tops Chiefs to Earn County Football Title Shot

The Massapequa ground game ground to a halt as the East Meadow Jets rushed for over 500 yards and cruised to a 55-21 victory to etch their place in the Nassau County Championship game on Nov. 19.

While East Meadow had four different players with over 60 yards rushing Saturday, Massapequa averaged less than four yards per carry, and most of their 116 rushing yards came when the game was already out of reach.

Heroes: While it'd be easy to focus on the Jets' running backs, it was the offensive line that created all the holes for East Meadow's running game. This is what allowed the Jets to accumulate eight rushing touchdowns on the day.

"We don't have the success running without them," Billy Andrle said. "They make things a lot easier for us."

On the other side of the ball, Andrle, who was also one of the game's offensive stars, led the Jets with 6.5 tackles and a sack. Bobby Bender and Marvin Cajoles added four tackles apiece as well.

"The defense played great today," East Meadow Coach Vincent Mascia said. "The few times that they needed to make a big play, they did it."

Turning Point: In the first half, the Jets turned the ball over twice via fumble to Massapequa, but the defense stood up tall and denied the Chiefs. Massapequa quarterback Matt Pagano tried to rally his team, but he completed just three of 11 passes in the first half.

"We cannot turn the ball over," Mascia said. "It's nice that the defense stood tall after we made a couple mistakes."

For Massapequa, the run was abandoned after they fell behind early. In fact, the Chiefs were held to just 21 yards rushing on 14 carries in the first half.

"Of course it's disappointing," Chiefs Coach Kevin Shippos said. "Even though we're a young team, we expect to win. We will come back next year and be ready."

Key Stat: While the Chiefs punted the ball to the Jets four times Saturday, East Meadow's offense was so efficient that they didn't need to punt the ball once. The Jets did fail on their only fourth down conversion attempt. Massapequa was 1-for-1 in such situations.

Bottom Line: The Jets are now set for a rematch of the 2006 Nassau County Championship against Freeport. The last time they played each other, East Meadow committed multiple turnovers, and Robbie Healy says that the Jets need to play better to secure a Nassau County Championship.

"We need to be careful with the ball," Healy said. "We know we can beat them. We're better than we played last time."

What's Next: East Meadow and Freeport will square off for the Conference I Nassau County Championship at 4 p.m. on Nov. 19 at Hofstra University's James M. Shuart Stadium.

Team

1

2

3

4

F

Massapequa

7

0

7

7

21

East Meadow

14

6

21

14

55

EM - Billy Adrle 5-yard run (Joe Martinico kick)

M - Matt Pagano 2-yard run (Craig Berge kick) 

EM - Andrle 45-yard run (Martinico kick)

EM - Robbie Healy 15-yard run (Dylan Curry rush failed)

EM - Healy 20-yard run (Martinico kick)

M - Vassili Grigorakos 17-yard run (Berge kick)

EM - Healy 15-yard run (Martinico kick)

EM - Healy 15-yard run (Martinico kick)

EM - Healy 6-yard run (Martinico kick)

M - Taylor Bocchiaro (Berge kick)

EM - Chris Buschi 3-yard run (Martinico kick)

Statistics

Passing: M- Matt Pagano, 8-23, 99 yards, 0 TD

Rushing: EM- Healy, 20 carries, 172 yards, 5 TD; Andrle, 15 carries, 172 yards, 2 TD; M- Bocchiaro, 12 carries, 77 yards, 1 TD

Receiving: M- Dan Muller, 5 catches, 59 yards