Glenn's undersized defense plays like giants

Nick Wagner hugged Moses Johnson after it was all over - after the trophy was handed out, after the group pictures were taken, after the swirling swarm around the man of the hour finally died down.

Because while Ryan Rielly was staging a personal onslaught against Seaford, Wagner, Johnson and the rest of the Glenn defense had quietly taken their own stand in the trenches.

Somewhat undersized, mostly overshadowed, but yesterday, as the Knights won their first Long Island championship, 28-7, it was the guys described as "quick" and "tough" but never, ever as "overpowering" who helped it happen.

"This right here, this is family," Wagner, the cornerback with the broken thumb, said about Johnson, the defensive tackle who, listed at 6-2 (closer to 6 feet), is one of the biggest guys on the team. "We put in a lot of hard work. It's not about height, it's about heart."

After the second quarter, it was about one thing only: Stopping Justin Buckley. Seaford's 9:48 scoring drive in the second had Buckley running for short gains on 11 of the 19 plays.

"Seaford was holding the ball for bunches at a time," Wagner said. "We had to get physical with them."

It started, as it often has for Glenn, with Rielly. He dragged Glenn out of its hole with a 10-yard TD pass to Kevin Massa with 14 seconds left in the half, but if the Knights were to get any further, it would mean clamping down on that yard-by-yard, time-burning, momentum-killing offense.

"We had to lock down the guard," Johnson said. "Buckley would have these small gains for three or four yards, and then we'd have these unnecessary penalties. Our game plan was to set the strong side to the best guard, since he's used to overpowering people.

"We got our pad level lower and Coach said to drive our feet, so we drove our feet."

Coach Dave Shanahan said he knew going in that his defense was unlikely to prevail on brute force alone. "Our guys are fast," he said. "We had great speed, and that was the difference. had them go to an invert defense when they were in their power sets. The assignment all game was to get off the blocks."

That invert defense - a stacked box tactic in which Glenn brought an extra defender down to the line of scrimmage - was no persnickety prevention strategy. After the first half, it was integral to stopping Buckley and company, especially with a hurting Joe Kirincic at quarterback.

Though the Vikings boast a run-heavy offense, Kirincic's separated shoulder made the pass even less of an option. Kirincic was 3-for-5 for 39 yards. Backup quarterback Chris Trotta was 1-for-7 with 37 yards and an interception.

Then again, Glenn would take predictability where it could. The team's top receiver, Wagner, suffered a broken thumb more than two weeks earlier (yes, even before his two touchdown receptions against Mount Sinai in the quarterfinals).

"I don't want to make excuses," Wagner said about his limited offensive totals (one catch for 11 yards).

"It's a little hard to catch," he said, grinning - arm encased from wrist to elbow in a gleaming white plaster cast.

Even so, his contributions were seen elsewhere. Wagner finished with three tackles, a broken-up pass and a sack for a loss of 5 yards. Most of those came after the frustrating opening minutes of the second half.

In the first half, "we were getting driven off the ball a little and there'd be this big hole for Buckley to go through," said cornerback Bryan Shankman, who had 61/2 tackles and two fourth-quarter sacks. But no matter, Shankman said, Glenn would stand up when it had to.

"They were knocking at our door," said Shankman, who had five tackles and two sacks on a thwarted fourth-quarter Seaford drive. "I knew I had to make those plays."

Indeed, Glenn is nothing if not scrappy. When Seaford went up 7-0, eating up all but two minutes of the half, panic was the last thing on their mind.

"This is our game," Shankman said. "It's weird to say, but we thrive in that situation. It's do-or-die, and we like playing like that. Our defense works on speed and toughness. As long as we have that toughness, it doesn't matter about size."

Wagner is 5-10, Shankman is listed at a generous 6 feet and defensive lineman Mike Pinto (nine tackles) is 5-10.

Yesterday, though, they were giants.