Bellmore JFK football clinches first playoff berth since 2017 after dominant performance from AJ Herlihy
AJ Herlihy of Bellmore JFK reacts after one of his tackles during a Nassau Conference II football game against host MacArthur on Thursday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
For the first time since 2017, playoff football is back at Bellmore JFK.
The Cougars conquered both a slippery playing surface and host MacArthur as they walked away with a 21-7 win to clinch a Nassau Conference II playoff berth Thursday night in Levittown. They survived and advanced on the back of several timely stops by their defense.
Bellmore JFK (5-3) not only secured its first playoff appearance in eight years, but also clinched its first winning season since 2016.
Linebacker AJ Herlihy made four tackles at the line of scrimmage for no gain, another three for a loss and added a sack. The energy he brought to the field radiated across the entire defensive unit. His infectious leadership began before the start of the game.
“On the bus, I was telling the juniors that this might be my last game, and all the seniors’ last games,” Herlihy said. “I asked them, can you just give it your all for us? And they listened. They locked on for us. I’m so happy. I’m going to scream when I get back in that locker room.”
The Cougars scored on the opening possession with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Babek to Damian Petrone. MacArthur (2-6) responded with a 15-play, 70-yard drive that lasted over 11 minutes and ate up the rest of the first quarter but yielded no points.
On second-and-goal from the Bellmore JFK 3-yard line, Herlihy made a tackle for no gain. Two plays later, on fourth-and-goal from the 2, Herlihy and defensive linemen CJ Siegler and Ethan Polinsky combined for another tackle to preserve the 7-0 lead.
“After that, I had the most adrenaline I’ve ever had,” Herlihy said. “I was so hyped up. No matter if we punted on offense afterwards or not, I knew this was our game. I knew we were winning after that.”
His intuition was right. On MacArthur’s next possession, it drove to Bellmore JFK’s 27-yard line. However, on fourth-and-2, Herlihy and Polinsky blew up the run at the line of scrimmage with 8:46 left in the second quarter.
On the first play of their next defensive series, Cougars linebacker Sean Marzano picked off Generals quarterback Vinny Szucs with 2:54 left until halftime. Three plays later, running back Nico Pasquariello rushed for an 11-yard score to go ahead 14-0 with 1:49 left in the first half.
MacArthur responded with a touchdown run by Ethan Shapiro with 11 seconds left before intermission and got the ball back to begin the second half. Once again, the Generals went on a long drive that lasted 9:47 and got inside the 10-yard line, but a shared sack by Polinsky and Siegler backed them up to the 19. Back-to-back deflections by defensive back Jonny Cohen on third and fourth downs preserved the lead.
Cohen deflected three passes in the second half.
“We haven’t been in the playoffs in eight years, and now we’re here,” Cohen said. “ . . . It feels awesome.”
With 8:53 left in the game, Pasquariello ran for a 1-yard score. An interception by Dom Vaglica with 6:50 left effectively ended the game.
“We’ve worked so hard all season for this moment,” Pasquariello said. “We were blessed enough to have one more chance, and everyone put their life on the line to win this game.”
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.
