Farmingdale's Kevin Wilson runs, Nick Lundin throws everything at Massapequa in win
Nick Lundin #3, Farmingdale quarterback, throws a pass during a Nassau County Conference I varsity football game against host Massapequa High School on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Farmingdale won by a score of 41-27. Credit: James Escher
The football rivalry between Farmingdale and Massapequa is a natural. Less than a handful of miles separate the schools. The programs are both gritty and physical. The players know one another and have been competing in sports since grade school. But to understand the passion and emotion involved in their meeting Saturday, listen to the words of Dalers’ junior quarterback Nick Lundin.
“Coach says every game is big,” Lundin said. “This is the biggest.”
Farmingdale rode the performances of junior running back Kevin Wilson and Lundin and ultimately wore down the Chiefs to take this season’s installment, 41-27, at Massapequa. Wilson had 23 carries for 207 yards and three touchdowns. Lundin was 9-for-17 passing for 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns to senior wideout Rich Hickis. Lundin also ran for a score.
“I like that they kept giving me the ball in a big game like this,” said Wilson, who sat for much of the fourth quarter after suffering an ankle injury. “I love it when we play ground and pound. The longer it goes the more you wear [opponents] down.”
The young Dalers (2-1) were seeded third in Nassau I despite having replaced a slew of starters. They opened with a loss to top-seeded Freeport but this win over the second seed may indicate that they’ve picked up speed on the learning curve.
“When you replace a lot of guys, you’re not going to be the same team,” Dalers coach Buddy Krumenacker said. “But I liked how our guys have progressed. [Lundin] is starting just his third game. And Wilson? Just wow.”
“I see us coming together,” Lundin said. “I had a feeling something good would happen today.”
Farmingdale scored a pair of touchdowns in each of the first two quarters for a 28-13 halftime lead. Wilson had six carries for 57 yards in an eight-play drive that ended with him going behind the left side of 295-pound Tyler Nemecek and 205-pound Daniel Hickey for 30 yards and the score. Lundin had his first TD pass to Hickis — a 30-yarder — and a one-yard scoring run. Wilson rounded with a spinning drive into the end zone.
Wilson went 64 yards over the left side for a touchdown and a 34-13 lead on the first possession of the second half, but then Chiefs senior quarterback Kenny Galvin led Massapequa (2-1) on a third-quarter comeback. He completed a pair of passes to Angelo Petrakis for 54 yards in a scoring drive capped by Terence Gallivan’s one-yard rush. He threw for 25 yards and ran for 19 in a 55-yard drive that Petrakis finished with a three-yard touchdown. A three-touchdown margin was down to 34-27.
Galvin was 20-for-30 passing for 241 yards and also carried 22 times for 134 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs.
After Lundin’s 18-yard scoring pass to Hickis early in the fourth, the Dalers defense ended up shutting the door on a game filled with offensive highlights. The Chiefs drove deep into Farmingdale territory three different times and each time was stopped short of scoring. Junior defensive lineman Neil Levantini had a pair of sacks and a tackle for an eight-yard loss in the late going.
“Late in the game we felt we had to dig in,” Levantini said. “I think what you saw was all of us pulling together.”
“I know we lost the first one,” Wilson said, “but I think this team is now starting to get its swagger back.”
