The Nassau County Class B football final - Garden city vs Lawrence
Drag the grey box around the watermarked image to the right to view a zoomed in version on the left.
Purchase Options:
Story:
By Jake White
When the 2007 football season began, virtually all the “experts” declared that it would be Lawrence’s year. The Golden Tornadoes were returning the nucleus of their Long Island Championship squad that had beaten highly-regarded Bellport. They had experience, size, speed and good coaching.
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.”
Trojan coach Tom Flatley, whose team had played outstanding defense in compiling an 8-1 record coming in, said “Our kids were excited and knew they had nothing to lose. They played their hearts out.”
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.
Garden City’s standouts were the entire defense which held Lawrence in check for most of the game. On offense, Savage gained 76 yards on 19 carries and Francis McDonough caught eight passes for 76 yards
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.
EXTRA POINTS: GC and Lawrence are now tied 8-8-1 in their growing rivalry…McDonough’s eight receptions were one short of the school record for a game shared by Brad Hay (1991 vs. New Hyde Park) and Tom Marino (2004 vs. Elmont)…Brendan Carroll was noticeably hampered by a sore leg suffered against Carey…Carroll, McDonough and Tom Mahoney are expected to be named All- County…Coach Flatley is closing in on another milestone. His record for 23 years stands at 195-33-7 .845. Only three Long Island football coaches have 200 victories: Howie Vogts of Bethpage, Don Snyder of Farmingdale and Fred Smith of Locust Valley….Not many key seniors will return in 2008 which may set the scene for an influx of talented youngsters from the current sophomore and freshman classes...Garden City Trojans 2007 Varsity Football Roster: Patrick Reeves, Brendan Creighton, Connor Dwyer, Francis McDonough, Denis Rice, Matt Montgomery, Brendan Carroll, Robert Fargnoli, Ryan Lynch, Joe Alleva, Matt Nesi, Will Manning, Greg Meli, Nolan Gaugler, Michael Wood, Steve Hucke, Kevin Rose, Will Fuller, Dan Savage, Ken Wright, Kyle Boelson, Declan Fee, Dan Niebler, Brian Tempesta, Chris Connors, Joseph Heaphy, Joseph Gentile, Sal Cassar, Connor Horl, Billy Sweeney, Jeff Fell, Drew Sweeney, Thomas Mahoney, Joseph Calcaterra, Gavin Crisafulli, Ryan Dowling, Brendan Engelke, Thomas McGeough, Pierce Bradley, John Bock, Connor Cortese, Brian Fisher, Mike Giannone, Tom Gordon, Steve Jahelka, Jared Mitchell, Brandon Passano, Chris Stapleford, Joe Tursi...........Lawrence Golden Tornadoes 2007 varsity football roster: Conrad Stewart, Peter Curry, Daniel Behar, Tom Blum, Eli Beecham, Matt Magliaro, PJ Preziosa, Mike Santisteban, Justin Fredericks, Eddie Pinero, Nicholas Rocco, Leon Allison, Justin Clerici, Shaquan Green, Travis Kennedy, Anthony Galante, Justin Berrios, Louis Gutierrez, Michael Stanya, Patrick Leblanc, John Daniel, Nicholas Davis, Julian McBride, Robert Oehler, Joe McHugh, Joel Santisteban, Josh Garcia, Ryan Mosley, Dom Rivelli, Vidal Bolanos, Keith Goodluck, Will Figueroa, Steven Rosenfeld, T Moran, Bryan Molinares
