By Jake White

Mike Giannone on his way to scoring one of Garden City's touchdowns. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Expectations have been running high for the 2009 Trojans and they did nothing to diminish them with a dominating 46-0 opening day victory over New Hyde Park at Warren King Field. The Trojans scored 23 first quarter points, led 37-0 at the half and used all of their 47-man squad by the end of the day. Eleven backs combined for 306 rushing yards and the team averaged over 11 yards per carry. Meanwhile, the Gladiators totaled just 60 yards, all of them on the ground.

There were so many fine runs for the Trojans that it seems a shame that there is only one football to hand off. At an earlier scrimmage, backfield coach Steve Finnell admitted, "I've never had a group to work with like this one."

Brian Fischer drew first blood with an excellent 18 yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the game. After New Hyde Park snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt for a safety, Steve Jahelka (69 yards on 6 carries) ran for back-to-back touchdowns, the first on a one yard blast and the second on a spectacular 36 yard gallop on which he broke a half dozen tackles.

Patric Berkery takes down NHP's Steven Contrada. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Sophomore Mark Ellis brought the crowd to its feet in the second quarter when he took a punt and sped 38 yards for another score. Fullback and co-captain Mike Giannone completed the first half scoring with a 20 yard romp up the middle to put the Trojans ahead, 37-0.

Coach Tom Flatley, as always, did his best to avoid running up the score. In the second half, the Trojans cleared their bench and kept the ball entirely on the ground. But the depth of this squad can test defenses. Senior Andrew D'Antonio, who has played well in the scrimmages, broke loose for a terrific 75 yard touchdown run that featured multiple cuts and broken tackles. He also tackled Gladiator halfback Guillermo Dilone in the end zone for a safety. The Berkery twins, sophs Patric and Eugene, also had impressive 15 and 12 yard runs, respectively.

Brian Fischer finds the opening and goes on to score Garden City's first touchdown of the regular season. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com The Trojans utilized their big offensive line, which includes returning All-County players Conor Horl and Billy Sweeney, to dominate the line of scrimmage. They opened up huge holes that enabled the backs to often blast untouched into the secondary. With that kind of success, quarterback Matt Montgomery got few chances to show off his passing kills, completing just one of two passes for 5 yards. Matt didn't even get to run the ball -something he does very well.

EXTRA POINTS: The 46-0 victory was the biggest opening day win in GC history. The previous record was a 42-0 win over Carey in 1994... Senior soccer player Chris DiBona made his kicking debut and went 6 for 6 on PAT's... Newsday ranked the Trojans sixth among Long Island's large schools in their pre-season poll... The win was coach Flatley's 203rd, moving him ahead of Fred Smith and into third place all-time among Long Island coaches behind just Howie Vogts of Bethpage and former Farmingdale coach Don Snyder... Ellis's punt return TD was the first for GC since Tim Harder's 43 yarder against MacArthur on Nov. 10, 2006. Assistant coach Bob Defliese said "With the depth of our talent our special teams could be excellent."... GC ran just 33 plays to NHP's 51. A very misleading stat since the Trojans scored on long runs rather than long drives... Fischer did the punting and got off a 55 yarder on a quick kick... The Trojans recorded two safeties. Had that happened before? That sent us searching through the record book and the answer is that it happened three times before: opening day 1996 vs. Calhoun, opening day 1979 vs. Hewlett and Nov. 6, 1954 against Manhasset when brothers John and Tom McInerny both tackled backs in the end zone... The GC JV defeated NHP 37-13 last Saturday and will travel to MacArthur on Monday, September 21 at 4:15 p.m... Chris Stapleford gained 42 yards on 3 carries and recovered a fumble... GC has won nine of 10 games against neighboring New Hyde Park...

Billy Sweeney blocks against New Hyde Park's Greg Goetz. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com

New Hyde Park's Chris Ianiro can't get by GC's Connor Horl. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Steven Jahelka leaps over New Hyde Park's Steven Contrada on his way to one of his two touchdowns for the Trojans. see this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Patric Berkery in action against New Hyde Park. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Chris Stapleford in action for the Trojans. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Garden City's Joe Tursi, Connor Cortese (24), Andrew D'Antonio (20) and Joe Visentin (44) combine to take down NHP's Robert Scattorchio. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com Mark Ellis, who scored a touchdown on a punt return during the game, can't be stopped by NHP. See this photo at www.Newsphoto.com