Seaford Football Captures Nassau County Title

Football fans at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium got a treat Saturday evening at the Nassau County Conference IV Finals with two very talented teams battling for four quarters in a manner reserved for really exceptional squads.

The 9-0 Seaford Vikings took on their principal rivals in the conference, Roosevelt, in a knock-down drag-out fight that wasn't really resolved until less than a minute remained in the game clock.

As it turned out, it was Seaford on the right end of a 28-25 score, but when the last seconds ticked off and the Vikings threw off their helmets and held their hands aloft with four fingers extended to indicate a"fourpeat", it was with the certain knowledge that they had turned back a legitimate challenge from a quality opponent.

Nonetheless, Seaford had accomplished a rare feat -- a fourpeat county championship, and the right to go for second straight Long Island title on Saturday afternoon against Suffolk County champion Glenn at Stony Brook University.

Leading the way for the Vikings was Justin Buckley with 204 yards rushing on 27 carries, and a couple of key passing plays from the arm of Joe Kirincic to Brian Gilbert and Travis Langin.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt got its biggest offensive moments from the arm of running back Donte Colter, who was able to hit Marquell Sanders with huge pass plays on several occasions for big gains.

"We don't have that kind of kid who can throw a pass like that in practice, he threw that ball further than we have seen, so we didn't exactly have our timing," said coach Rob Perpall after the game. 'The game had its ups and downs -- but we stepped up when we had to."

And then some -- hanging on to win by a margin that truly didn't reflect the overall success of the Vikings at stymieing Roosevelt.

Success is no stranger to Seaford football in recent years -- the team is 57-4 since 2006, with not only those four county championships under their belt, but a Long Island title in 2009 as well. But against the talented Roosevelt squad, this year's county championship crown came after hard work and plenty of sweat.

In fact, Roosevelt looked like it had upset on its mind in the first quarter, completely dominating the Vikings and scoring twice on lightning-like pass plays from the arm of running back sensation Donte Colter. Though Colter didn't have much in the way of running yardage to boast about, he lofted a couple of huge touchdown passes to his favorite receiver, sophomore Marquell Sanders, before Seaford could even net a first down.

Trailing 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, and it took some good defense from Victor Belgiorno and John Triosi to keep the Roughriders from making it 20-0 before the Vikings could get their offense untracked. But we're talking Seaford football here, and true to form, the Vikings came roaring back in the second quarter -- with running back Justin Buckley grinding out big gains that set up a Troisi 17 yard touchdown run with 4:28 in the quarter to cap a 69 yard, 12 play scoring drive.

It was, as they say, 'the team in green we're used to seeing.' And Roosevelt's offense seemed to rattle. Good defensive hits for Jared Saperstein and Joe Richards put Roosevelt deep in the hole, setting up a Richards hit that caused a fumble and a Pat Conroy recovery.

That's all Seaford needed. Taking advantage of the Roughriders tendency to spread the defense when the Seaford offense set up a number of wide receivers, Viking quarterback Joe Kirincic handed off to Buckley who found himself with a free backfield to run through and the result was a 67 yard run that set up a Travis Langin diver over a goal line stand to make it 14-13 with 1:06 left in the half.

"We noticed that when we spread our guys out on the line, they spread theirs out too," said  Kirincic. "And then, if I dropped back to pass and drew their rush, it gave Buckley a chance to break through. So that's what we did"

Not satisfied with leaving it at that, the Vikings set up another scoring opportunity with an onside kick that Dan Arena recovered and another scoring drive that was capped by a similar open field dash for Buckley -- this time a 38 yarder that made it 21-13 at halftime.

The second half was championship football at its best, as a rejuvenated Roosevelt came out swinging. On a five play, 52 yard drive, punctuated by an airing out from Colter to Sanford that netted 48 yards, Roughrider quarterback Erin Barker got to pay dirt on a keeper to make it 21-19. But significantly, the two point conversion attempt failed, thanks to the work of Saperstein, Arena and BelGiorno to stack up the Roosevelt runner short of the goal line.

The third quarter ended with both teams struggling to get their offensive game back on track -- but in the fourth quarter, Seaford thwarted a key Roosevelt drive at the 13 yard line when bad snaps on three successive pass plays -- aided by hot defensive puruit on the part of  Travis Langin -- killed their drive.

That was all Seaford needed -- the Vikings ate up nearly 10 minutes of the clock on a long drive that did not end until, with 2:01 showing on the game clock, Kirincic hit wide receiver Brian Gilbert in the end zone from five yards out to make it 28-19.

Though Roosevelt was able to muster one more touchdown on the arm of Colter, it was too little too late. Seaford took a couple of knees to run out the clock. It was the boys in green celebrating a fourpeat on the field of Hofstra University.

Seaford will aim for a repeat Long Island title on Saturday against Glenn at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 4:30 p.m.