GC Defense shutting down the run After what seemed like two straight days of rain the skies cleared long enough for the Moscatiello Thunder 7 year olds to play against the Chiefs of Mineola. The game was played in front of hundreds of fans under the lights on the new artificial turf field at Tully Park. For years Mineola and Garden City have been rivals and every game always seems to be a battle to the final whistle.

The Chiefs of Mineola wore their Gold helmets with Burgundy jerseys and pants while Garden City wore the traditional away jerseys of White pants and White jerseys.

The first half was an intense defensive battle with a number of bruising tackles which caused turnovers for both Garden City and Mineola. Leading the hit parade was a stout GC defensive unit who not only neutralized Mineola's vaunted offensive line but also had numerous tackles in the backfield. Key contributors included Brian Boland, Campbell Munn, Christian Genussa, Jackson Bautch, Kyle Merritts, Steven Haass and Joey "lightning" Atherall.

In the second half the GC offense strategy as Coach Hank Stram of the Kansas City Chief used to say was "Matriculating the ball downfield". The Thunder O went into overdrive with a hurry up offense and punched it in for a touchdown with a series of nice short yardage runs eating up the clock. Then again with only minutes remaining the Thunder O scored a second touchdown with a long run for a touchdown which started as an inside run behind great blocking.

"Defense is ready for battle" The backfield was outstanding with contributions made by Brady Sullivan, Harry Murphy, Nick Rosato, Tyler Sandoval and Joe Scattareggia with Stephen Baymack and Steven Moscatiello sharing duties at QB.

This weeks "Hogs" were Timothy "call me TJ" Schmitt, Kevin LeBlanc, Albert Severini, Aidan "Spike" Pfaff, Angelo Demiris, Timmy Curran, Collin Plunkett and Reece Hungerford... they all worked hard to neutralize a hard charging Mineola defensive unit.

Our next opponent is Uniondale which we play at Stewart Field Sunday at 9:00am. Please come watch this exciting group of talented boys as they continue with their first season of Thunder Football.

Go Thunder!!!!