Bedell's TD carries Floyd to title game
Floyd RB Stacey Bedell #21, cuts back through the hole for some rushing yards against Longwood. (Nov. 11, 2011) Credit: George A. Faella
With the sunlight fading, Stacey Bedell finally found the daylight he was looking for.
Floyd's stud running back was corralled by a determined Longwood defense for most of Friday's Suffolk I football semifinal. But on a play put in just for this game -- "slant" -- Bedell took a handoff and angled toward the line of scrimmage. He followed the blocks of lineman Brandon Winters and wingback Matt Allen, who was inserted for this play. Allen went in motion, but instead of continuing all the way across the field, he stopped as the ball was snapped and Bedell followed him. To daylight as it turned out.
"Once I saw the opening, I was gone," said Bedell, who busted through the hole and sprinted 48 yards for the tiebreaking touchdown with 6:11 left that gave Floyd a 19-13 victory over host Longwood. The Colonials (8-2), who lost to the Lions (8-2) in the season opener, will face Sachem North in the final next Sunday at 4 p.m. at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium for a third straight year.
"We put in the play because it was away from [Darius] Greene," Floyd coach Paul Longo said, referring to the Longwood defensive lineman.
Until that moment, Bedell had totaled only 18 yards, was tackled three times for a loss and lost a fumble. He did have a 21-yard TD run nullified by a holding penalty. "They were banging. It was a physical game," Bedell said.
A tight one, too. Davonte Booker (94 yards rushing) scored two first-half touchdowns that were countered by 4-yard scoring runs by Bedell and quarterback A.J. Otranto (53 yards rushing, 50 yards passing). It was 13-all at the half.
Floyd's winning touchdown was set up by Allen's fumble recovery off a bad exchange that gave the Colonials the ball at the Longwood 43. "When you have an electrifying running back like Stacey," Otranto said, "You just know he's going to break one."
Bedell, who has scored 31 touchdowns this season, had this slant on the story. "I was waiting the whole day for that one chance. I'm just so glad it came when we needed it. It's one of the biggest touchdown runs I've ever had because it gave my team the lead."
