Thunder Halaby 11's Shot Down by Baldwin Bombers

Jack Reina, the anchor of the Thunder "O" Line

The GC Thunder Halaby 11's took on yet another tough opponent this Sunday at Stewart Field. First, the bad news is: losses don't get much worse than this one. Now, the good news is: losses don't get much worse than this one.

The "Thunder Road - Born to Run" offense started the game with a bang by once again dominating the first series with a sustained drive behind the blocking of Brian Irwin, Scott Irwin, Zach Stamoulis, Jack Reina, Brett Stewart, Danny Miller, Danny Dolan and Mike Cassano that ended in a Timmy Halaby touchdown sprint and a Matt Greene QB keeper for the extra point that ate up all but twelve seconds of the first quarter. The drive featured strikes by Danny Simmons, Timmy Halaby and Jack Connors coming out of the backfield.

When the "No Surrender" defense of Albert Soussis, Jack Connors, David Gage, Kyle Wein, Brett Stewart, Mike Cassano, Tommy Reina, Danny Miller, Timmy Halaby, Connor Reidel, Danny Dolan, Anthony Kritis, Matt Greene and Richie Mattone strafed the Bombers on their first series it looked like it was going to be all Thunder. And so it was until late in the fourth quarter when the Bombers took advantage of a short field and finally punched the pigskin in to tie the score at 7 - 7.

Scott & Bryan Irwin - throw it to the right end!

In between, there were plenty of plays that made the highlight reel. Richie Mattone cutting in front of his man to make a nice interception. Matt Greene hooking up with Brett Stewart on a 17 yard reception. Scott Irwin with a tough grab in traffic. Matt Greene and Timmy Halaby with exciting kickoff returns. The entire team playing strong and hard on both sides of the football.

Baldwin got the ball back at their own 35 with literally seconds left in the game. To the Bombers credit, they also played strong and hard and never rolled over in spite of the difference in time of possession and yardage gained. Baldwin's QB put one up that the receiver took 65 yards for a TD on the last play of the game to win the game 13 -7.

"Coulda Shoulda Woulda" is a mantra for losers. Baldwin is in the rear view mirror and quickly fading from view. "We can. We will. We WIN." is the mantra for this team. We look forward to another tough team this Sunday at Bellmore. The entire team and coaching staff come away from this game a little wiser and more determined to improve and play to the best of our abilities.

Richie Mattone with the interception return

GO THUNDER!

Timmy Halaby gets the corner against the Bombers