Grassi, Saucier lead Oceanside to semis
Shane Saucier stays ahead of trailing defense for an Oceanside touchdown during the Nassau High School Conference I football game. (Nov. 4, 2011) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
It was an unlikely path to hero for John Grassi.
He began the season as Oceanside's starting quarterback but lost the job midway through to dynamic junior Thomas Capone. After Capone was injured in the first half of Friday night's first-round playoff game at MacArthur, however, Grassi found himself with the game on the line and a chance for redemption.
"Coach [Rob] Blount always has me ready," Grassi said. "He always says, 'You're one play away. You never know what's going to happen.' I knew it was time to step up."
On only his third pass attempt of the night, Grassi hit Philip Ragona with a 13-yard strike for the go-ahead touchdown with 10:22 left in the fourth quarter, and No. 6 Oceanside kept rolling in a 43-21 win over No. 3 MacArthur.
Oceanside (5-4), which scored 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, earned a berth in the Nassau I semifinals next weekend at Hofstra.
"I've done that play a million times before," Grassi said. "I knew I just had to keep my head clear and just throw the ball. Phil does what he does. He's an amazing player."
Grassi, who said the moment and the result left him "speechless," didn't admit to feeling any rust. "I was calm because I knew I had to do it for the coaches and these boys," he said. "I knew I had to be a part of the team in some way."
MacArthur (7-2) pulled out a 20-18 Week 7 victory over Oceanside, and it looked as if Friday's game also would be close. The score was tied at the end of each of the first three quarters, and it was 21-21 as the fourth quarter began.
Grassi's go-ahead score ignited an already explosive Oceanside offense. Shane Saucier (127 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries) burst for a 21-yard TD run with 5:30 to go and put an exclamation mark on the win with a 63-yard scoring run with 3:50 left. Suddenly the nail-biter had turned into a no-doubter.
"I think we just realized as it got later that we could be the team with the loss," Grassi said, "and that's a long bus ride home. I think everyone just dug deep, found their heart and got hungry."
Oceanside accomplished this despite the loss of its starting quarterback. With less than four minutes to go in the first half, Capone was injured after being hit on a straight-ahead run. He needed some help to get to the sideline and never returned after suffering what coaches called a left knee sprain.
Gerard Cunningham threw two touchdown passes and Thomas Kelleher had a scoring run and TD catch for MacArthur.
Capone's 28-yard touchdown pass to Ragona with 4:37 left in the first quarter tied the score at 7. Otherwise, much of the heavy lifting was done by a three-headed rushing tandem of Saucier, Justin Buckley and Luke Schwasnick.
"Bottom line is we're going to Hofstra," Saucier said. "That's what we talked about all week, all offseason, at every workout. That's the one thing we've been striving for. And we just had a fire in us."
