GC Thunder 10 Whites - Saturday Night Lights

The Garden City Thunder 10 Whites continued their campaign when they traveled to Massapequa Saturday night to take on yet another tough team in the Massapequa Mustangs. Veteran Captains Danny Dolan, Timmy Halaby, Anthony Kritis and Danny Miller strode to midfield for the toss of the coin. The Mustangs deferred to GC and the Thunder started out on offense. In spite of the hard running by Timmy Halaby, Kevin Mullen, Danny Miller and Jack Connors and blocking by Louie Pagonis, Zach Stamoulis, Anthony Kritis, Conor Byrnes, Kieran Byrnes, Ryan Giacini, Brian Tully, Jack Reina, double duty by Danny Dolan at quarterback and guard, the Thunder Road - Born to Run offense was having difficulty with the big and seasoned Mustangs. After a short drive the Thunder turned the ball over to Massapequa on downs. The Mustangs began a long drive that came up short deep in Garden City territory after outstanding individual tackles by Danny Dolan and Conor Byrnes. The rest of the No Surrender defense lead by Tommy Reina, Brian Hughes, Michael Holland, Liam Fitzgerald, James Dutton, Connor Riedel, Anthony Velez, Mike Cassano, Jack Reina, Timmy Halaby, Danny Miller, Anthony Kritis, Joey Burdi, Kevin Mullen and Kieran Byrnes was scrapping and grinding on every play trying to keep the Mustangs in the corral. Unfortunately, Massapequa was able to break off two long runs for touchdowns to take a 14 - 0 halftime lead.

Nevertheless, there were several standout plays by the Thunder. Louie Pagonis controlled a Mustang kickoff at midfield. Brian Hughes hit, stripped and recovered a fumble. Kieran Byrnes made the highlight reel with an exciting interception and run. Ryan Giacini came down with a Danny Dolan pass for a nice 15 yard gain and a first down. Brian Tully and Tommy Reina both had strong runs. All of the players competed with pride and effort.

The final score (20 - 0) was not truly reflective of the energy, time and intensity put in by both the players and coaches. The Thunder White now stand at 2 wins and 2 losses after facing four of the toughest teams in the Conference. We expect that all of this positive energy will be paying dividends down the road. GO THUNDER!