Berkery scores 3 TDs in Garden City win
Garden City's Patric Berkery scores his second touchdown of the game during the Nassau High School Conference III football game. (Sept. 17, 2011) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The final tally on the scoreboard read Garden City 21, Wantagh 3 and the Garden City players were hoping it could be read as far as Franklin Square. As far as Carey High School.
"We have a huge rivalry with Wantagh, we always have great games," quarterback Mike Comiskey said. "But we really wanted to show Carey we're coming for them. So by winning and showing a good game, we thought we did that."
Garden City (2-0) knocked off Carey in the Nassau II finals last year. But Carey was still awarded the preseason No. 1 ranking. Garden City took second and took some motivation from that decision.
It showed Saturday in Patric Berkery, who ran for three touchdowns, and in Ryan Norton, who nailed all of his extra-point tries and used long kickoffs to pin Wantagh deep in its own territory.
Garden City never trailed, and Wantagh's three points were the first the Trojans allowed this season. Meanwhile, Mepham upset Carey, 14-7.
The message is clear:
Here comes Garden City. Again.
"We try to pride ourselves on our heart and our line," Comiskey said. "We push our running game a lot because we know our offensive line and our running backs are stacked."
And though it might have appeared to be the Patric Berkery show from a scoring standpoint, the Garden City defense shone just as bright, curtailing several of Wantagh's opportunities.
After Berkery scored on a four-yard run to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead, Wantagh (1-1) fired back with an impressive drive that gave the Warriors a first down at their own 43 yardline. But Liam Kennedy picked off a deep throw from Nick Mullen.
"Coming into this game we knew we had to talk on defense," Kennedy said. "We had to know we were in the right set, know who we all had. And on the interception it was just great coverage. The QB just hung it up and I picked it off."
But Wantagh wasn't entirely deterred and, on its next possession, marched to the five-yard line. Unable to reach the end zone, the Warriors tried for a field goal. But Eugene Berkery, Patric's brother, blocked the kick, and Patric picked it up and returned it to midfield.
With 24 seconds left in the half, Wantagh finally got its field goal, a 34-yard kick from Andrew Martorella that cut the deficit to 7-3.
"There was a lot of anger in the locker room," Comiskey said. "'Cause if they score one touchdown we're down. We don't really get that a lot and this is a big game. And we knew we had to come out and push ourselves and score right away."
Four minutes into the third quarter Patric Berkery ran for an 18-yard score, and three minutes into the fourth quarter Berkery broke it open with a 61-yard touchdown. In between, the Garden City defense limited Wantagh to just one first down in three possessions.
"I think our defensive effort was outstanding," Patric Berkery said. "In the first half, they were in the red zone three times and we held them to just three points. It was a great effort by our whole defense."
