John Giannotti, East Rockaway cement big victory over Island Trees
Easty Rockaway running back John Giannotti runs past Island Trees defenders during the Nassau High School Conference IV football game between Island Trees and East Rockaway at Island Trees. Credit: /David L. Pokress
East Rockaway's success on Saturday was built on the foundation of a bruising running back, a disruptive defensive end and a pyramid of bricks.
John Giannotti rushed for 225 yards and four touchdowns, and Chase Vertuccio had three sacks to seal East Rockaway's 32-27 victory over Island Trees in a Nassau Conference IV matchup.
The pyramid of bricks is an East Rockaway tradition that requires each player to write a word on a brick that best describes the team.
“We do it before the year, everyone writes a word, they have to stand up and present what their word means and what they’re going to do,” said East Rockaway coach Russell Pajer, who added the word “toughness” to the Rocks’ brick mound. “One brick is nothing by itself. But if you put it together and you put some mortar in there and it becomes solid, you can’t break us down.”
The bricks have words such as “energy,” “intensity,” and “discipline.”
East Rockaway demonstrated each of those qualities by scoring on its first two drives of the game and holding a 14-7 lead before the second quarter.
But Island Trees’ Nicholas Filocamo answered with a 30-yard touchdown run on the Bulldogs’ second play of the second quarter. Giannotti countered with his second touchdown of the game and intercepted an Island Trees pass to end the first half.
Giannotti amassed 144 first-half rushing yards as the Rocks held a 20-14 halftime lead.
“With our offense, there’s a lot of misdirection,” Giannotti said. “We said it pregame. We said, ‘The better team doesn’t win, the team who plays the best wins,’ and we showed it out on the field today.”
Island Trees opened the second half with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that drained over nine minutes off the clock. In a collapsing pocket, quarterback Nicholas Saragossi dished a screen pass to Joseph Filocamo, who reached the left sideline and coasted into the end zone for a 25-yard score.
East Rockaway's Lucas Cortazar returned the ensuing kickoff to the Bulldogs' 10-yard line. Two plays and less than 45 seconds later, Giannotti scored his third touchdown of the afternoon.
After Giannotti added his fourth touchdown, Saragossi, who finished with 138 passing yards and two touchdowns, connected with John Echezuria IV on a 69-yard touchdown to pull Island Trees within a score.
Island Trees got the ball back on its own 12-yard line with 3:35 left in the game and a chance to take the lead, but Vertuccio recorded two of his three sacks to thwart any chance of a Bulldogs' rally.
“When (Island Trees) came out with no one in the backfield, I knew I had to go out and make a play,” Vertuccio said of the last sack. “We’re all like a family here.”
The Rocks improved to 2-1 and celebrated on the sideline, where their pyramid of bricks backdropped the win.
“When you come from East Rockaway, it’s not the biggest town, all I know is when we suit up, we’re one family,” Giannotti said. “When the bricks are together, we’re all one structure. When we’re all together I don’t think anyone can stop us.”
