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Trojans Beat Elmont, Open Playoffs Against Mepham
The problem came about because Garden City (6-1) and Lawrence (6-1) tied in power points with 125.91 each based on the won-lost records of their opponents. A tie-breaking procedure is in place with the first criterion being head-to-head competition. Garden City beat Lawrence, 16-8, on September 22. But Andy Morris, the hard-working compiler of power points, went to the next decimal point to break the tie and came up with Lawrence ahead by two one-thousandth of a point. This would seem reasonable except that a simple math error produced incorrect results. Without making this a math class, this is what happened. A chart in the Section Eight football guide lists the point values for all won-lost records. Most of these are expressed in hundredths, however, and to break the tie each needed to be re-calculated to add a decimal. A computer would do this automatically, but the numbers were put into the calculator short a decimal which resulted in incorrect values and therefore incorrect results. In fact, Garden City finished ahead by the total of 125.914 to 125.913 when the proper numbers were used.
Statistician Jake White brought all the data and even an expert computer witness. In the end, the committee conceded that Garden City's numbers were correct, but in a decision that could be called baffling, ruled that the numbers in the chart, even though they produced an incorrect number, had to be used because the chart had always been used in the past. The problems would be corrected after the season. The result of all this is that the Trojans get the second seed and will play seventh-seeded Mepham (4-3) in a quarterfinal match-up at Warren King Field on Friday at 2 p.m. SAT exams on Saturday necessitated the Friday date. If GC wins, the semifinal opponent would be the winner of the Carey-Elmont game. Lawrence, with the number one seed, plays Bellmore Kennedy with the winner taking on the MacArthur-South Side winner. Advantage Lawrence.
Dodging heavy showers and gale force winds which cancelled the Homecoming Parade for the first time, Garden City started well by driving 46 yards on eight plays on its first possession. Tim Harder, who rushed for 111 yards on 18 carries, scored the touchdown on a four yard run for a 7-0 lead. Elmont came back with a 68 yard drive which was stopped at GC's 14 yard line, but an ensuing Dean Gibbons fumble gave the Spartans the ball at the Trojan five. Fenelon Guillaume's run and the extra point tied the score. The winning touchdown came early in the fourth quarter when Dan Savage bulled in from the one yard line to culminate a 12 play, 57 yard march.
The game shouldn't have been as close as it was. A 62 yard run by Harder seemingly set up a GC score in the second quarter, but the Trojans couldn't punch it in and Dillon Dwyer's 27 yard field goal attempt sailed wide. With two minutes left in the game Dan Savage picked off an Elmont pass on their 30 and returned it for an apparent touchdown. But he was stripped of the ball at the one and the ball was fumbled through the corner of the end zone for a safety. Friday's opponent, Mepham, features a running back many rate as the best in the Conference. Cory Jones, a 173 pound junior, is a powerful runner with break-a-way speed. The Pirates lost their regular season finale to Carey, 27-6. EXTRA POINTS: The Trojans out gained Elmont 228-152 and rushed for 201 yards....GC is now 11-0 all-time against Elmont....Garden City hasn't played Mepham since 2003. The Trojans lead the series 21-2 since the first game in 1937... Dillon Dwyer is now Nassau County's all-time leader in kicking points. Dwyer has 117 points (87 extra points and 10 field goals).
Interestingly, Juan Turcios of Roosevelt is right behind at 111 and is still active....The JV game with Elmont was postponed until Tuesday, October 31st where Garden City shut out Elmont by a score of 28-0.
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