Carey's First Win Over The Trojans Is An Overtime Thriller
By Jake White

Tim Harder begins to celebrate his 2nd quarter touchdown catch as the ref signals for the touchdown. Photo by Newsphoto.com

Carey High School began playing football in 1957 and first played Garden City in 1982. Twelve times the teams had met over the years and twelve times Garden City had won. For a neighboring school with championship aspirations that was a most frustrating situation.

Last Saturday at Warren King Field a big crowd of over 1,500 fans, many of them wearing Carey colors, showed up to see if the 2006 Seahawks could make history. They did, but not before the Trojans staged two dramatic comebacks in what turned out to be a 21-19 overtime victory for Carey. Both teams are now 4-1 in a highly competitive Conference II race.

Carey started fast, scoring on its first two possessions on the fine running of halfback Matt Zaffuto. Zaffuto culminated a 14 play, 91 yard drive with a two yard plunge. Then, after Blaise Ancona's 68 yard punt pinned them deep, the Seahawks extended their lead to 13-0 when Zaffuto broke free for a 74 yard touchdown run.

As the 4th quarter was winding down, Terry Kennedy makes a catch that gave Garden City a big first down. Photo by Newsphoto.com

The Trojans began their comeback in the second quarter when quarterback Dean Gibbons connected on a 24 yard TD pass to halfback Tim Harder.

Harder made a spectacular play as he managed to make a fingertip catch and get a foot down in the right corner of the end zone. Dillon Dwyer's conversion attempt sailed wide. The rare miss would prove pivotal.

Garden City's defense stiffened in the second half, shutting down Carey's strong running attack. But, as in last week's 7-6 win over MacArthur, the Trojans were unable to sustain their own running game.

Trailing by seven points with the Carey crowd on its feet and shouting, the Trojans managed to force a Seahawk punt and get the ball on their own 38 yard line with two minutes remaining in regulation.

Dean Gibbons wasn't about to let this one get away without a fight. He ran 18 yards for a first down, and then on third and 11, he hit Terry Kennedy for a 20 yard gain to the Seahawks' 25. Kennedy then made a terrific sideline catch of a 12 yard toss at the 13. Two plays later Gibbons executed a nifty throw-back pass to Kennedy who was alone in the end zone. The touchdown came with just 18 seconds remaining in regulation and left the Carey crowd, which had begun its celebration, in shock. Dwyer's pressure kick knotted the score and sent the game to overtime.

Dan Savage broke away from Carey's Chris Oswald and gained more yards on this play. Photo by Newsphoto.com

Give the Seahawks credit. With the momentum all with Garden City, they took the ball at the start of overtime and used five running plays to score a touchdown with fullback James Spanopoulos crossing the goal line from the three yard line. Coach Matt McLees then took a big gamble, choosing to go for a two point conversion. A failure would have opened the door for GC, but QB Sal Intagliata followed excellent blocking into the end zone to put Carey ahead, 21-13.

Now GC had to match that effort. Gibbons passed 7 yards to Tim Harder, and then Harder ran off right tackle for 8 yards and a first down at the 5. Carey's defense then held GC without a gain for three straight plays. The big visiting crowd again sensed victory but on fourth down Gibbons rolled out to his right and fired a pass to Harder who duplicated his earlier outstanding catch for a touchdown.

Joe Calcaterra blocks against Carey's Dan Gerlach. Photo by Newsphoto.com

Trailing 21-19, the Trojans were forced to go for two in order to tie and send the game to a second overtime. This time Gibbons rolled to the left but his pass, intended for Harder, was tipped and fell incomplete, setting off a wild display of joy and relief from the Carey fans. They were entitled after waiting 40 years.

Garden City's loss was its first to a Nassau opponent since 2002 and ended a 31-0-1 unbeaten streak. GC, Carey, Lawrence, MacArthur and South Side are all 4-1 in Conference II. Next Saturday the Trojans host Bellmore Kennedy (2-3) at 2 p.m. The Cougars beat Hewlett, 37-36 in overtime.

EXTRA POINTS: Gibbons completed 8 of 12 passes for 107 yards and 3 touchdowns. He now has 9 in five games. He also had 76 yards rushing....Matt Zaffuto of Carey led all rushers with 123 yards on 20 carries...Carey out gained GC 297-226...Terry Kennedy caught four passes for 61 yards....This was GC's first regular season overtime game. The Trojans are 1-1 in playoff overtimes...First place powers Bethpage, Roosevelt, and Garden City all lost last Saturday. When did that last happen? I'll get to work on that....GC has only four rushing TD's thus far.....The JV trounced Carey, 55-14, for its 37th straight win.

Garden City's #77 Stephen Paladino blocks against Carey's Jon Eggart. Photo by Newsphoto.com

Garden City's Rob Stufano goes up against Carey's Chris Spillane. Photo by Newsphoto.com