Syosset's Mustafa Mozawalla wins Newsday's Snyder Award as Nassau's top quarterback
Mustafa Mozawalla of Syosset is the Don Snyder Quarterback Award recipient at the Nassau Football Coaches Awards Dinner at the Crest Hollow Country Club on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Paul Rorke said Mustafa Mozawalla’s improvement is one of the most dramatic he has seen in his 30 years as Syosset’s football coach.
Rorke noted that Mozawalla was “not very good” coming out of his sophomore season, but it was clear that improving was of the utmost importance to him. Two years later, Syosset’s senior quarterback was not only at the top of his craft, he was at the top of the county.
Mozawalla completed 124 of 212 passes for 1,756 yards and 15 touchdowns and had 103 carries for 608 yards and 11 scores this season. He led Syosset back to the Nassau Conference I final, where it lost to Massapequa for the first time since 2014.
Mozawalla was honored with the Snyder Award, which annually recognizes Nassau’s top quarterback, at the Nassau County High School Football Coaches Association awards banquet Wednesday night at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.
“Incredibly happy for him,” Rorke said. “To see a kid be challenged like this, and then to meet the challenge and to put the work in and then to win an award like that . . . just so proud of him.”
Mozawalla grew the most with his mechanics, Rorke said. Rorke saw significant progress during the summer ahead of his junior year, recalling the ball coming out of his hands differently.
“Coming into his junior year, I don’t think he started until the third or fourth game,” Rorke said. “But when that opportunity arose, he kind of seized it. Really every series that year, he learned a little bit more and kept applying the fundamentals.”
Mozawalla’s best 2023 performance, by total yardage, happened in a Nassau I semifinal against Farmingdale. He completed 16 of 28 passes for 234 yards and a TD and rushed 22 times for 164 yards and three TDs. Syosset lost to Farmingdale in Week 2, but Mozawalla’s performance keyed a 30-27 upset win in the postseason. Farmingdale coach Buddy Krumenacker called Mozawalla a “double-edged sword” with his dual-threat ability.
“He’s a guy that led the team and — at times of that game when they beat us — carried the team,” Krumenacker said. “He’s a special guy, a special high school athlete.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
