Ground attack helps Sachem East survive Brentwood, improve to 6-0
No excuses from Connor Farrell. This was it. Make a play and end it.
Sachem East's middle linebacker huddled the defense in an effort to prevent Brentwood from tying the game on a two-point conversion try with 20 seconds remaining.
"We talked about it and knew it was going to come down to their quarterback trying to make a play," Farrell said of the Indians' LaVelle Hall. "He rolled right and tried to throw an out route. I just jumped up and knocked it down."
Farrell's play helped Sachem East defeat host Brentwood, 28-26, Saturday in a Suffolk Division I football game, and improve to 6-0.
Hall's 4-yard touchdown run capped an 11-play, 93-yard drive that set up that two-point conversion try. He rushed seven times for 45 yards on the drive. Even if Hall had made the two-point conversion, Brentwood (1-5) would have had to go for it again due to a penalty for too many men on the field. On the ensuing onside kick, the Indians illegally touched the ball to give possession to Sachem East.
"It just didn't go our way," said Hall, who rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. "The ball slipped out of my hands when I was trying to throw it. They gave me a chance."
Ryan Leone put Sachem East on top for the first time on a 1-yard touchdown run with 9:54 left in the third quarter. The Flaming Arrows led 20-14 following Javon Abraham's two-point conversion pass to Farrell.
"Our emphasis is playing off the ball low when it comes to our running game and that was huge today," said Leone, who had for 64 yards and a score on 17 carries. "If the hole is there, hit the hole."
Josh Hanna didn't have any trouble finding a hole as the Flaming Arrows' complementary back to Leone. Hanna's 60-yard carry on first-and-10 from Sachem East's 25-yard line set up Mike Royce's 1-yard touchdown run with 2:18 left in the third quarter. Abraham's ensuing two-point conversion run gave them a 28-14 lead.
"When things get rough, don't deviate from the run," Hanna said of the Flaming Arrows' game plan. "We said we weren't out of this. We stuck to it to the end because we know we're going to be successful in the end."
Abraham's 35-yard TD run put Sachem East on the board with eight minutes remaining in the first quarter to cut Brentwood's lead to 7-6.
"I'm very confident that our line will do its job," said Abraham, who was 3-for-6 passing for 70 yards. "We spread them out in the second half and that opened up the middle for our running game."