Colin DeAngelo stiff arms Inwood Sunday, November 5th, Stewart Field, Garden City. The Thunder 9s met the Inwood Buccaneers for their final regular season game this past Sunday on what was a game that had playoff implications. The Thunder game day captains, Matt Thomas, George Petropoulos, Nick Gray, Brendan Digan and Alex Wood represented the Thunder for the coin toss which was won by Inwood who elected to receive the ball. Out rumbled the Thunder defense, led by Brendan Digan, Jack Brennan, Mike Brennan, and Jack Murtagh. The Thunder defense were missing Jack "The Bus" Tobin, James O'Sullivan and Bobby Menges who were on the injured reserve list but were on the sidelines cheering their team on. Jay McNamara, Joe Morreale, and Evan Nagel shared corner back responsibilities and were successful in containing the Inwood running backs. The Thunder battled extremely hard against the Bucs but could not contain their explosive from line that averaged 110 lbs. per player and the Thunder found themselves down 19-0 going into the second quarter. Then the offense went on fire, led by Matt Thomas at QB the Thunder went all out running a toss play to Brian "Moose" Colamussi behind a huge block by Nick "Tank" Gray for a 25 yard gain, Alex Wood followed with 8 tough yards up the middle, then Brian Goepfert caught a 30 yard pass from Moose on a throw back pass to setup a sweep to Colin "Rocket" DeAngelo for the Thunder's first touch down. The Thunder followed with a half back pass from Colin to the Moose to close the gap to 19-7.

Thanks to blocks, Brian Colamussi has time to find his receiver The Thunder defense came alive with some huge tackles from Luke Armstrong and Joe Williams. George Petropoulos recovered a Buc fumble to get the ball back for the offense. The Thunder ran the hurry up offense and ran the counter for 15 yards, followed by the screaming wedge for another 5 yards, then the Thunder aired out the ball, with a 35 yard toss by Moose to Brian Goepfert for a first down and passed mid field. Matt Thomas threw a 10 yard out to Moose and out of bounds to stop the clock, then Alex Wood added another 7 yards up the middle, followed by another half back pass from Colin DeAngelo to Brian Goepfert to get the Thunder to the 20 yard line. The Thunder were setting up the "Razzle Dazzle Play" to put it into the end zone but time ran out in the half and the drive ended.

Brian Goepfert and Evan Nagel prevent the extra point The second half was a defensive battle and the Thunder were able to move the ball but could not put it in the end zone as time ran out in the game. The final score of the game did not reflect the Thunder season; it was a season filled with some extremely exciting games where every player developed into not only great football players but developed and strengthen some friendships we hope last a lifetime. These are a group of very special young men who have committed six hours a week at practice since the beginning of August to represent Garden City in eight games this past season. We are extremely proud of each one of you, see you next season. Go Thunder!

Joe Morreale stops the runner Alex Wood Surveys his damage Evan Nagel wraps up runner Joseph William and Joe Morreale work together to bring down the runner The Women Behind the Coaching Thunder 9s Jack Tobin Bobby Menges and James O'Sullivan cheered on their team