Justin DePietro's fumble return for a touchdown sparks 6-0 Carey
Justin DePietro (No. 6) celebrates with Matt LeMite (No. 59) after DePietro picked up a fumble and ran it back 51 yards for the Carey's first touchdown of the day. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Sometimes, a defense can be a team’s best offensive weapon. Carey football knows that very well.
The Seahawks shut out host Clarke, 27-0, in Westbury to remain atop Nassau Conference III’s standings early Saturday afternoon. Carey (6-0) allowed just 133 total yards, totaled seven sacks and took the ball away five times in the convincing win.
Justin DePietro was right in the middle of it. The Seahawks forced three consecutive three-and-outs to start the game before Clarke (4-2) finally started making noise. A 43-yard pass from Matthew Kurz to Alex Frank set up the Rams around midfield. Two plays later, Kurz tried to turn the right corner, but Logan Alvizures came up from the second level and punched out the football.
DePietro scooped it up and rumbled down the left sideline, breaking several tackles and taking it 51 yards for the touchdown to go up 7-0 just before the first quarter ended.
“That gave us a break; it helped us push through,” said DePietro, a running back and linebacker. “It just gave us the lead we needed.”
That play needed to happen for Carey, as its offense did not sustain a drive longer than 48 yards. Much of that was due to the strong performance by Clarke, which allowed only 237 yards and held the Seahawks to 3-for-12 on third downs and 1-for-3 on fourth downs.
Carey needed more than just DePietro’s scoop and score to pad the lead. For these guys, that was not a big ask.
On the drive after DePietro’s fumble return, William Cooper picked off Kurz and returned it 14 yards to Clarke’s 29-yard line. Two plays later, DePietro took the handoff left and barreled his way across for the touchdown to make it 14-0 at the start of the second quarter.
Now back on defense, Ayden Baez and Salvatore D’Amato recorded back-to-back sacks to force a punt from deep in Clarke’s territory, and eventually, another short field.
“We keep a relentless attitude,” DePietro said. “That’s all we do on defense: be relentless all over the field. We don’t know what’s going to happen during the game, but we just stay poised, and that helps us a lot.”
D’Amato was then rewarded for his sack with a 29-yard touchdown reception on a deep loft down the middle of the field to go up 21-0.
James McGrath added his second interception of the day in the third quarter, while Matt LeMite recorded a sack and Theodoros Andrikopoulos recovered a fumble that DePietro and D’Amato helped force. DePietro later added a sack on the final possession of the game, followed by Baez’s second sack.
“It’s awesome to see those other guys absolutely ball out and have a great day,” DePietro said.
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
