Garden City running back Michael Berkery has broken ankle, will miss Long Island Championship
Michael Berkery of Garden City returns a punt during the Nassau Conference II football final against Carey at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium on Saturday. Credit: James Escher
Garden City running back Michael Berkery broke his right ankle in last week's Nassau Conference III championship game against Carey and will miss Saturday's Long Island Championship against North Babylon.
Berkery is the Trojans' leading scorer, and rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns in the 35-7 win over the Seahawks.
Garden City coach Dave Ettinger said Berkery was injured on the first possession of the third quarter and did not return.
“He underwent ankle surgery on Tuesday, and was lost for the remainder of the season,” Ettinger said. “Our prayers are with him and a full recovery. The injury is devastating to our team. Our senior leadership has been great, but Michael has been right there as one of the key leaders this season.”
Garden City cruised through the Nassau County season with an 11-0 record and earned the school’s eighth straight title. The Trojans extended Long Island’s longest winning streak to 41 games. Berkery, a speedy 5-11, 167-pound back, had 996 total yards of offense, including 857 on the ground and 19 touchdowns.
“We knew it was bad when he got injured,” Ettinger said. “We were hoping for the best. He’s a tough player to replace and we’ll need someone to step in and fill the void. He’s so valuable to this team. We’re going to have to figure it out before the Long Island Championship game.”
Berkery was part of a running back tandem with senior Aidan Considine in an offense that averaged 38 points per game.
“They complemented each other so well,” Ettinger said. “We’re playing a really physical opponent this week. They have talent on both sides of the ball. It would have been a difficult test at full strength and now it’s an even tougher task without Berkery available.”
Berkery also played strong safety and was a key in a Trojans defense that yielded only 34 points this season.
“Our captains [Matt] Liberopoulos and [Matt] Kephart, have anchored our defense and relied on our safeties to come up in run support and Berkery was a big part of that,” Ettinger said. “They’ve done a great job on defense and we’re going to need that effort this week to win.”
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
