Defense, Berkery's three TDs lead Garden City past Carey, 27-6

Gentle isn't a word to describe the Garden City defense.

But the Trojans treated their teammate of honor with kid gloves while celebrating their second straight Nassau Conference II football title Saturday at Hofstra.

Crowding together for a team picture, Garden City made room in the middle for Conor McDonnell, who broke his left leg in last weekend's win over Wantagh and was in a wheelchair. When the photographing was complete, captain Stephen Jahelka implored his teammates to not bump into McDonnell. "Be gentle," he said.

During the game, the creed was different.

No. 2 Garden City intercepted four passes and had five sacks, as its defense overwhelmed previously undefeated Carey, 27-6, at Shuart Stadium. Patric Berkery (119 total yards) took care of the offense, scoring three touchdowns (one receiving, two rushing).

Garden City (10-1) will play Suffolk champion Bellport, a 32-14 winner over East Islip, at noon Saturday at Stony Brook, seeking its second straight Long Island title.

Berkery's second TD, a 62-yard burst through the Carey defense, gave the Trojans the lead for good 13-6 on the first play of the fourth quarter. After he scored, Berkery went over to McDonnell, who was stationed behind the corner of the end zone, and gave him a hug.

"Conor is one of my best friends," Berkery said. "We didn't know if he was going to be able to be here today, and we just wanted to make sure he gets another game to watch this season."

The injury bug hit Garden City in this game, as well. Tailback Brian Fischer, who rushed for 39 yards on nine carries, suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not play in the second half. His status for next week's game is unknown.

Berkery, a wide receiver, was shifted to the backfield (as he's done before this season) and thrived in the fourth quarter, rushing for touchdowns of 62 and 3 yards to put the game out of reach.

"It was like going back to old times," Berkery said of the position change. "I'm always ready to switch."

With 9:37 left in the second quarter, Tom Gordon shuffled to his left and hit Berkery in stride for a 33-yard, over-the-shoulder touchdown reception to make it 6-0 Garden City. It was the first deficit Carey had faced all season.

"They aren't used to playing from behind," Garden City coach Tom Flatley said. "Our kids were loose all week. When you're the underdog, it's easy to play loose."

The Trojans proved to be excellent front-runners, bedeviling Carey quarterback Kyle Zahradka all afternoon. Mark Ellis, Jahelka, Liam Kennedy and Gordon all intercepted passes and Zahradka had five passes batted down. Jahelka, Eugene Berkery, Scott Conetta, Mike Borges and Scott McElroy all made sacks.

Kennedy returned his interception 43 yards to the Carey 7, and three plays later, Gordon hit Griffin Eilbeck on a drag route to make it 20-6 with 6:17 to play.

Garden City has held all three of its playoff opponents to seven points. Carey had scored fewer than 30 only once this season, in a 26-14 Week 3 win over Garden City. On Saturday, the Seahawks failed to convert on two fourth-down plays inside the Garden City 25-yard line in the first quarter.

"You either hitting somebody, or you're getting hit," Jahelka said. "We knew we had to punch them in the mouth real early."

But after it was all over, they had to give their fallen teammate some TLC.