Chris Rosati's four touchdowns lead Shoreham-Wading River to Long Island Class IV championship

One play. That's all it took for Shoreham-Wading River to make an opening statement that foretold the future.

Chris Rosati took a pitch, ran to his right through an opening as wide as the William Floyd Parkway and raced 20 yards. Three plays later, Rosati bolted to his left through an opening as wide as Route 25A and galloped 26 yards for a touchdown.

Game on? Make that game over.

"On that first run, there was a huge hole and it set the tone," said Rosati, who scored four touchdowns and gained 110 yards on 19 carries as SWR completed its second straight unbeaten season with a 35-7 win over Locust Valley in the Long Island Class IV championship game at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium on Friday.

The Wildcats (12-0) controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball but were particularly dominant on offense. The unit -- composed of interior linemen Tyler Hughes, Dalten Stalzer, Dean Stalzer, Ryan Letscher and James Puckey plus tight ends Ethan Wiederkehr and Dan Cassidy -- allowed Shoreham-Wading River to gain 293 yards and average 6 yards per carry. Quarterback Jason Curran rushed for 91 yards on 13 carries and Jon Constant gained 90 yards on 12 carries.

"The whole year our O-line has been carrying us," Curran said. "The way they communicate, the way they block allowed any back to run through a big hole. We jumped out to an early lead and the linemen made it easy."

SWR followed up its opening drive with another scoring march, this one punctuated by Constant's 31-yard run on an inside reverse. Rosati scored from the 2 and Dan Mahoney added the second of his five extra points.

On the second play of the second quarter, Rosati plowed in from the 1. Constant caught a 6-yard TD pass from Curran on a quick slant with 1:24 left in the first half to make it 28-0.

"We kept pounding, staying on our blocks," Puckey said. "Our line is really good. There are not many lines that can play with us. We came in here to dominate and we did."

That was no surprise to Rosati. "That's been our motto all year. Wear them down, wear them down," he said.

SWR coach Matt Millheiser said he challenged his linemen before the game.

"I told them to down-block and pound away. Let's see if they can deal with us," he said. "Locust Valley couldn't do it. We wore them down."

The Wildcats' defense did its part, producing three interceptions (two by Constant and one by Rosati) and limiting Locust Valley (11-1) to 137 yards. Almost half of that total came when a Locust Valley punt was blocked and the Falcons' Tom Talenti picked it up behind the line of scrimmage and ran 60 yards.

For the joyous postgame team photo, Puckey held the No. 54 jersey worn by former Wildcat Tom Cutinella, who died after an on-field collision in 2014. "There is never a day when you don't think about Thomas," Curran said. "You can just look at our chests and know that we're all brothers."

The Wildcats' 2015 jerseys all have the words "TOMMY TOUGH" on the front, right above the uniform number. Tom's brother, Kevin, was on the bench Friday, his left leg in a cast after surgery to repair an ankle ligament tear suffered in the county title game against Glenn last week.

"It's really bothering me not to be out there," said Kevin Cutinella, a junior linebacker/running back/quarterback who was a major contributor this season. "But I'm so proud of the guys."

So is Millheiser. "This is very special. Twenty-four in a row," he said. "You don't take it for granted, and it gets more special as you get older."