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Lawrence Rallies To Top Trojans In County Championship
Garden City has always had the great coaching and the winning tradition, but those same experts pointed to a lack of returning starters and a lack of size. The Trojans, "they" said, would have their hands full with the rest of the conference. Beating Lawrence this year would be a major upset. Well, through three quarters of last Friday night's Conference II Championship game at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium, the dream was very much alive for Garden City. The Trojans had taken a 7-0 lead on an impressive 45-yard drive on their first possession, and held on for a 7-6 halftime lead. Halfback Dan Savage was running through the big Lawrence line and Brendan Carroll found his favorite target, Francis McDonough, for 11 and 16 yard gains, the second of which went to the one yard line to set up Savage's touchdown blast. Lawrence coach Lou Andre summed it up when he said "they kicked our butts in the first half."
Lawrence took advantage of the first of Travis Kennedy's two interceptions to drive 23 yards for a 12-7 lead after three quarters, but this was no blowout and everyone in the crowd of 2,000 knew that Garden City, the team with the great history which was appearing in the title game for the twenty-third time since 1981, might just pull of the big upset. The dream died in the final twelve minutes when two more Trojan turnovers proved decisive. Give Lawrence (10-0) credit for capitalizing and earning the right to defend their title against East Islip (10-0) next Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Hofstra. Coach Flatley, as usual was succinct and accurate when he said "At key points in the game, some of their All-County players made All-Long Island type plays". Among those were Travis Kennedy on defense, 310 pound tackle Keith Goodluck who recovered a fumble and literally pushed QB P.J Preziosa into the end zone for his second TD, and receiver Conrad Stewart who caught four passes for 105 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown.
In the end, an 8-2 season with both losses to an exceptional team, should give all the Garden City players, coaches and fans great satisfaction. However, knowing the pride that exists in the program, it may take a while for the disappointment to go away. Dreams die hard.
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