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Trojans In County Finals As Defense Dominates
Garden City has allowed just 62 points in nine games, fewer than any team in Nassau. Last Friday night before a crowd of 1,500 at Hofstra the Trojans blanked MacArthur, 10-0, to improve their record to 8-1. GC will play Lawrence (8-1) at Hofstra this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. MacArthur knows a thing or two about defense as well. The Generals lost to the Trojans, 7-6, in week four and again proved to be a tough foe. Garden City won the toss and, as is their preference, deferred so that they could play defense first. After holding the Generals on downs at their 14, the Trojans took advantage of the great field position when Tim Harder electrified the crowd with a 43 yard punt return for a touchdown less than two minutes into the game.
fourth down Dillon Dwyer's 25-yard field goal attempt narrowly missed. Keeping the Generals in the game was dangerous, but time and again the defense pressured quarterback Kevin Ryan and the secondary played flawlessly. MacArthur had virtually no running game (68 yards on 25 carries). When the Levittown school did threaten, GC was up to the challenge. Ryan Sweeney recovered a Ryan fumble at the Trojan 31 in the third quarter and in the closing seconds he intercepted a pass at GC's 10 and returned it 35 yards. Terry Kennedy also chipped in with a fourth quarter interception.
Nursing a 7-0 lead, Garden City mounted one last drive and iced the game on Dillon Dwyer's 33-yard field goal with 3:39 left. It was a boomer, which would have been good for at least another 15 yards, and it gave Dillon a tie for the lead in total career kicking points with 127. He'll have a chance to pass Skip Thomas of West Islip (1992-94) next week. In an ironic twist, Dillon's dad Doug was Thomas's phys Ed teacher. The championship game with Lawrence will be Garden City's twenty-second trip to the finals since 1981 and GC will be looking for its seventeenth win. The teams met on October 7 with the Trojans coming out on top, 16-8.
They have a balanced attack with the passing of P.J Preziosa and the running of Bryan DiSabito and Quincy Kennedy. The defense will once again be put to the test, but clearly if GC is to make its fourth straight trip to the Long Island Championship, the offense must put points on the board. EXTRA POINTS: Dean Gibbons once again led the team in rushing. He has rushed for 435 yards on 94 attempts (4.6) and that figure includes sacks. The only Trojan QB's in the last 50 years who had comparable numbers were Dave Kang and Conor O'Brien who led GC to Long Island titles in 2000 and 2003...GC has intercepted 13 passes led by Kennedy (4) and Sweeney (3) and has had only one intercepted.... Ryan Sweeney had the big reception of the game, a 13-yard catch over the middle on third-and-12, which set up Dwyer's field goal.... Good news for the GCHS football program: the JV (8-0), the 8th grade (6-0) and the 7th grade team (6-0) all finished undefeated.... Garden City has outscored its opponents 200-62. The Trojans have scored 200 or more points in 23 of the last 25 years.
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