Floral Park football's Luke Mulligan recovers key fumble in win over Seaford
Finn Curry of the Seaford Vikings passesin the game against the Floral Park Knights at Floral Park Memorial High School on Saturday, October 24, 2026 in New York. Floral Park won by the score of 14 to 13. Credit: Louis Lanzano
There is not a better birthday gift a football coach can receive than a win to gain control of the conference.
That is exactly what Floral Park’s players did for their coach, Ron Pickett, who turned 40 on Saturday. The Knights hosted Seaford in a battle for first place in Nassau Conference IV and giftwrapped a 14-13 win.
With the victory and the power points acquired, Floral Park (6-1) now controls its own destiny toward earning the top seed in the Nassau IV playoffs with just one regular-season game left.
“I [couldn’t] care less about my birthday, to be honest with you,” Pickett said. “I’m so glad and so proud of the way these kids played today. When we needed them to make big plays on both ends, they made them in the big-time moments. That’s all I ask from them.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Seaford (4-3) drove 15 plays, from its own 2-yard line to Floral Park’s 18, eating up 5 minutes and 51 seconds. With 2:37 remaining, the Vikings ran a pitch play to the right on third-and-8, but the exchange was fumbled.
With the fate of the No. 1 seed lying on the turf in front of him, junior defensive end Luke Mulligan dove on the ball and recovered it with 2:30 left. Three plays later, sophomore running back Michael Kowalski took the handoff on third-and-2 and barreled his way up the middle for five yards.
The third-down conversion allowed junior quarterback Danny Ring to kneel it out, securing the victory.
“My first thought was to just dive on the ball to win the game,” Mulligan said. “I had to get Pickett a birthday present to end this.”
Seaford held Floral Park to 230 yards from scrimmage. However, the Knights were excellent situationally, as they went 6-for-12 on third down and 2-for-2 on fourth down, allowing them to sustain drives and drain time off the clock. They possessed the ball for 29:16, leaving the Vikings’ dangerous offense on the sideline for the majority of the 48-minute game.
Keeping Seaford’s offense at bay was key, as it finished the game with just 267 yards.
“Staying on the field was important,” Kowalski said. “Coming off would’ve meant giving them chances, and we couldn’t let that happen. We didn’t score a lot, but we took their time away to do so.”
Floral Park also went 2-for-2 in the red zone and held Seaford 0-for-2. Ring hit senior wide receiver Ryan Terwilliger on the back shoulder for a 16-yard touchdown to cap off the game’s opening drive. With 4:07 left in the second quarter, junior fullback Rocco Berkey rushed for a 2-yard touchdown to break a 7-7 tie and take the lead for good.
Berkey’s rush capped a nine-play drive that ate up 4:35.
The Knights opened the second half with a 14-play drive that chewed 10:02 off the clock.
Kowalski took a beating to help his team win the possession battle. He rushed for 62 yards on 17 carries, caught a two-yard pass and also recorded his defense’s only sack.
“It’s a team sport, so I’m not going to complain about my stats,” Kowalski said. “We won the game and now we’re the higher seed.”
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.
