The Thunder White 9's, led by Captains Albert Soussis, Robert Wotczak, Anthony Kritis and Thomas Leggett, took a ride down the turnpike on Sunday to take on the tough Franklin Square Warriors.

Franklin Square won the toss and started on offense. The Warriors moved the ball deep into Garden City territory until the "No Surrender" defense stiffened. Conor Byrnes punctuated the defensive stand with a huge sack allowing Garden City to take over on downs at their own 7 yard line. On the first play from scrimmage Joey Burdi turned the corner and sped 93 yards for a seeming touchdown. Unfortunately, a flag was thrown on the play negating both the run and the points. Franklin Square took over on downs at the Garden City 21 and drove in for a score to take an early 6 - 0 lead.

The Thunder White "Born to Run" offense quickly answered back on a drive highlighted by a slashing 18 yard run by Cullen Minion and a 47 yard sprint to paydirt by Timmy Halaby. Jack Connors wedged into the end zone for the conversion as Garden City took a 7 - 6 lead.

Garden City and Franklin Square traded field position for the remainder of the half as both defenses dominated play. The defensive line led by Jack Connors, Anthony Velez, Connor Riedel, Michael Cassano, Jack Reina, Thomas Reina, Conor Byrnes, David Gage, Timmy Halaby and Liam Byrnes did the heavy lifting in the heat and mud while Danny Miller, Danny Dolan and Anthony Kritis backed up the line with Joey Burdi and Kiernan Byrnes at the corners. Anthony Kritis made several outstanding tackles for losses as did Danny Dolan, Jack Connors and Timmy Halaby. The first half ended with a Conor Byrnes fumble recovery.

The second half proved to be just as tough but with better results as the offensive line of Thomas Legget, Brian Tully, Kieran Byrnes, Danny Dolan, Liam Byrnes, Danny Miller, Conor Byrnes and Rob Wotczak began to assert itself. With Jack Connors pounding the middle and Timmy Halaby using the rest of the field and Cullen Minion throwing in some bone crunching blocks, the Thunder drove downfield culminating in a Timmy Halaby QB keeper for a score as the Thunder took a 13 - 6 lead. The Thunder "No Surrender" defense knew that the Warriors would be coming with everything in their playbook in an attempt to answer back. But it was the Thunder that had all the answers with Kieran Byrnes defensing a pass, Conor Byrnes penetrating the backfield for a 10 yard loss and the defense refusing to give up yardage.

Garden City ground out another long and time consuming sustained drive culminating in a 10 yard sweep by Timmy Halaby for a touchdown and what was to be the final score Thunder 19 - Warriors 6.

Franklin Square kept fighting and broke off a nice run that came up snake eyes when the ball was jarred loose from the running back and Joey Burdi recovered the fumble. The game ended with runs by Mike Cassano, Connor Riedel and Thomas Leggett.

The Warriors proved to be a very tough, competitive team. The coaches and players will be continuing to work hard in preparation for Sunday's game with Baldwin. GO THUNDER !