Final thoughts on record football season

A record breaking football season came to a close, in well, record-breaking fashion. Glenn quarterback Ryan Rielly put the finishing touch on the Knights' championship run to the Long Island Class IV title with another breathtaking performance in a rout of previously unbeaten Seaford.

Rielly would be the first to tell you that he wasn't a one-man show and that it was the sum of all parts that enabled Glenn to win the school's first Long Island football championship. But come on, no one believes that. Humble though he may be, his talent was responsible for more than 85 percent of the team's offense this season. He shattered Long Island's single-season record for all-purpose yards with 3,526 to go with 41 touchdowns, 21 on the ground.

In one playoff game, Rielly was responsible for running or passing on 61 of Glenn's 63 plays. Opposing coaches knew if they stopped Rielly, then Glenn could be defeated. But no one found the key to unlock that game plan and the 12-0 Knights finished as the only undefeated public school team on Long Island.

"And that's what makes Rielly's performances so unbelievable," said former Babylon coach Hans Wiederkehr, now president of the Suffolk County Football Coaches Association, "He's one of those special athletes that left an unforgettable mark on this game. He was fantastic."

Rielly wasn't the only standout performer in a season loaded with eye-popping statistics. Freeport's junior quarterback Isaiah Barnes served notice that his Red Devils again will be the Nassau Conference I team to beat in 2011. Barnes ignited a Freeport offense, accounting for seven touchdowns in the Long Island Class I championship win over Floyd.

The Red Devils forced Nassau statistician Jack White to rewrite the record books with a 62-point avalanche against Floyd, the perennial Suffolk champ. Of course, it was the highest point total in a Long Island Championship game. And Floyd was no slouch, scoring 35 points, as junior Stacey Bedell put on a show of his own. He returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown - the first player to do that in the 19 years of the LIC.

And Bedell wasn't done. He also returned an interception 40 yards for a score and ran for touchdowns of 52 and 6 yards. It wasn't enough as Barnes followed Martone Award winner Terrell Brown and his massive offensive line to the end zone for six touchdown runs. The teams combined for the most points in an LIC game with 97. Freeport would set the single-season record for points scored on Long Island with 511. It was that kind of season.

The stunning offensive show had the entertaining White quip, "Oh boy, we have a lot of work to do. It seems like that entire records page is going to change. We'll need plenty of ink."

No records seemed unreachable. Oceanside senior quarterback Tyler Heuer assaulted some of Long Island's passing records. He threw 34 touchdown passes, eclipsing the mark of 33 by Commack's Mike Prahalis in 2000. Heuer totaled 2,179 yards passing.

It wasn't just the quarterbacks setting milestones. Newfield junior halfback Shervon Barthelmy led the Wolverines to the school's highest win total. The Wolverines finished 8-2, both losses coming to Bellport, the Class II champion.

Barthelmy rushed for 1,648 yards and 20 touchdowns to set a Newfield single-season rushing mark. Oceanside wide receiver Gene Garay had 55 receptions and tied the Nassau single-season record for touchdown catches with 14 as the Sailors reached the Conference I semifinal round.

Oceanside - one of four schools that never had qualified for the Nassau semifinals in the current playoff system that started in 1984 - and Newfield caught everyone's imagination this season. Both schools experienced the thrill of playoff victory and the exposure that comes with the big stage spotlight.

It was a great season.