Seaford Football Deafeats Mineola in Playoff Opener

The top-seeded and defending Long Island champion football team remained undefeated on the season with a 34-7 win Mineola in the first round of the Conference IV playoffs Saturday afternoon. The Vikings racked up 389 yards rushing to move to 9-0 and advance to the Conference IV semifinals at Hofstra University's Shuart Stadium.

Hero- The Seaford running game took over in this game as they put together 389 yards on the ground. Led by the two headed rushing attack of Travis Langan and Justin Buckley, the Vikings methodically scored points throughout the game. Langan ran the ball nine times for 117 yards. He broke off two big runs of 40 and 20 yards to give the Vikings a spark early in the game. Buckley produced 114 yards on 21 carries. The running backs were the work horses for the Vikings as they drove the ball down the field for their team all game long.

Turning Point- In the third quarter with Seaford leading 14-0 the Vikings were driving once again. Langan broke off a 20-yard run to the Mineola 26 yard line.  Senior captain John Troisi finished off the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run to increase the Viking lead to 20-0. At this point, the Seaford defense was well in control and the running game was firmly established. Mineola tried to put together a couple of scoring drives to get back into the game, but were held back by a few untimely penalties.

Quote- Seaford head coach Rob Perpall said after the game, "The keys to winning to today was playing with enthusiasm. When we play with enthusiasm we can pretty much play with anybody. We didn't let them take us out of our game plan. We have some good backs and some great run blockers. Our defense played superb and we really shut them out."

Bottom Line- The Vikings will now advance to the Nassau County Conference IV semifinals at Hofstra against fourth-seeded North Shore on Saturday night starting at 7:30 p.m. During the regular season Seaford North Shore 41-13 on Oct. 9. Seaford has now won 41 straight games against Nassau County opponents.

Teams               1          2            3          4                   Final
Mineola            0            0            0         7                     7
Seaford             7           7            7         13                    34