Seaford Football Falls in Locust Valley

The Seaford Vikings aren’t accustomed to lightning strike once, let alone twice. On Saturday, that’s exactly what happened.

Just seven days after seeing its 44-game winning streak against Nassau County opponents at the hands of the West Hempstead Rams, Seaford football dropped a 13-12 decision on the road to the Locust Valley Falcons in a Conference IV matchup.

The Vikings (1-2) lost senior quarterback Chris Trotta to a separated shoulder midway through the second quarter, but they led 12-0 at the interval on touchdowns by wide receiver Kyle Kolodinsky and running back Joe Richards.

Richards finished with 76 rushing yards on 23 touches, while Alex Rodriguez ground out 57 yards on 16 carries. Richards also made nine tackles on defense, forced a fumble and recorded a sack.

However, Seaford -- which surrendered 22 unanswered points in its first league loss since 2006 last weekend -- yielded 13 straight points in the second half, and failed to capitalize on a number of fourth-quarter drives in and around the Locust Valley redzone.

After turning the ball over on downs on the opening two drives of the game, the Vikings took the lead seven minutes into the second quarter.

Trotta ran for 14 yards to the Falcons' 41-yard line on 4th-and-4 to stop a third successive drive from stalling, and Kolodinsky stayed in bounds to haul in a 28-yard strike in the right corner of the endzone three plays later to give the visitors a 6-0 lead.

Seaford got the ball back 36 seconds later when Brian Gilbert took an interception 29 yards the other way, setting up the offense on the Locust Valley 42 with 4:12 left in the half.

Co-captain Trotta, who was 1-for-3 in the air, was knocked out of the game with 55 seconds left as he tried to make a throw on 2nd-and-7 at the Falcons' 14, but Seaford was able to double its advantage when 6-foot-2 running back Richards pounded the ball home from the three-yard line.

Rodriguez was unable to convert the two-point conversion, but the Vikings took a 12-0 lead into the break.

With backup quarterback Peter Adorno sidelined following surgery on his left arm earlier this year, junior wideout Tyler O’Donnell was called on to take the reins in Trotta’s absence.

Locust Valley (3-0) hit back at the 8:28 mark of the third quarter when Chris Appell broke several tackles on a 22-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-1.They then took the lead early in the fourth quarter.

After the Vikings had punted from the Locust Valley 42, junior running back Callum Ewen sprinted for 47 yards and Jack Vitale caught 16 more through the air on 3rd-and-11. Nick West tied the game with a two-yard touchdown run, and Bradley Conn made it 13-12 with a successful extra point.

Seaford had several chances to overturn the deficit, but back-to-back turnovers hampered the Vikings' comeback effort.

O'Donnell's pass intended for Gilbert was picked off by defensive back Alex Rawa at the five-yard line with 8:02 remaining, and Appell recovered Joe Andersen's fumble at the Locust Valley 13 with 4:43 left after forcing the Falcons to punt from their own endzone.

The Vikings' defense forced another three-and-out to give their offense one last shot, but three consecutive incomplete passes from the Locust Valley 29-yard-line -- two to Gilbert and one to Kyle Kolodinsky in double coverage -- ended any hopes of a late charge.

Seaford head coach Rob Perpall declined to comment following a second rare Conference IV setback in as many weeks for the Vikings.

Seaford will look to get back on track when they travel to Clark (1-2) this Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff.