Thunders 7s 2008 -Thank You Boys! The Thunder O'Connor 7s played Hicksville last Sunday in their final game of the season. Stewart Field was the setting for the 9:30am kick-off. The 7s were the under card for two tremendous Thunder play-off games. A wide range of emotions were on tap for this Sunday as this was the final game in a fun, enjoyable and successful season for the Garden City Thunder. Hicksville won the toss and elected to meet the vaunted Thunder defense to start the game. True to form the Thunder defense obliged and introduced themselves to Hicksville with a quick three and out. Each play in the opening series resulted in the Thunder "D" forcing negative yardage.

Tremendous line work and tackling by Dylan "I Eat Protein Not" McDonald, Brendan "Always Sendin' You Back" Campbell, Alex "The Viking" Erickson, Matthew Conelli "Beans", and Brendan "I Throw You Like a Toy" McEvoy made the Crusaders think twice about running up the middle! The first half remained tight until Colin "Farrell Hart's War" Hart exploded around right end and scored the first touchdown of the game. The secondary took over on the next possession and went into lock down mode. Jack "Randall Tex" Cobb, Matthew "I Will Hit You Sooney Rather Than Later" Marooney, and Paul "The Wall" Varano stepped up and ensured no one got past the line of scrimmage. Garden City took over offense and wasted no time by sending Sean " My Runs Are a Da Vinci" Tariche on a 46 counter for 31 yards. Justin "I Dance Way Better Than Timberlake" Coppola showed some nifty steps making the score 12-0. Jack "Never Sacked" Muldoon added the extra point with a hard run to make the score 13-0 at halftime.

The second half showcased the heart and soul of the Thunder 7s. Our offensive line anchored by Teddy "Bear" Ferzola. Connor "Fire Out Like A" Gunn, Matthew "I McLovin To Hit" McGovern, Jack "Of Clubbin" Ryan, and Liam "My Anagram is a Blow Delivered by MAIL" Griffith showed why their efforts were a big part of the Thunder fortunes throughout the season. Hard inside running by Aidan "33 Blast" O'Connor" and Richard "Bugsy" Petrone made sure the Thunder held the ball. We had one player missing- Riley "Not Tom" Coughlin- Roberti was asked to fill in on Notre Dame's line this week up at BC. He obliged and made an impact. The Thunder score was posted for him at the ND/BC game! Garden City shuffled the deck as they have been all year long and gave opportunities to players at different positions for most of the second half. When the final gun sounded the Thunder 7s ended their season on the left side of a 13-7 game. The paparazzi descended upon the field and their seemed to be more photographers than players! Emotions of joy, excitement, and even some tears as the Thunder 7s season came to an end.

For all our coaches: John Coppola, Vinny Muldoon, Richard Petrone, and Tom Ryan. Their dedication and unwavering commitment made this more enjoyable than ever imagined. Thank you to Coach Ryan for putting together the Thunder DVD that our boys will be able to watch for years to come!! Thank you to our parents who made a commitment on August 1st and saw it through to November 9th. That is truly amazing! The coaches thank you for entrusting your boys to us for 3+ months. Your support for us and encouragement never went unnoticed. Thank you to the Griffith Family for bringing all the parents together. What an enjoyable evening! Thank you to the Cobb Family for our end of year player's party. What a wonderful treat for our boys. Thank you to the Varano Family for helping us with the daunting paperwork and the wonderful photos throughout the season. Finally, thank you to the Thunder players. You came to us August 1st as 20 boys who wanted to play football. You proceeded to transform yourselves into a close knit and cohesive team of 20 Thunder football players. Your commitment to every practice and your willingness to learn the game of football was very gratifying for the coaches to see. Thank you to the Thunder 7s and until Thunder 8s... "Go Thunder!"