Rocco Berkey's play on both sides of the ball fuels Floral Park's win in Nassau IV semifinal

For Floral Park to advance to a county final, it all came down to stopping Malverne’s explosive running attack.

The Knights needed to be physical to slow down the Mules, and junior defensive lineman Rocco Berkey brought that physicality on both sides of the football.

Berkey had 10 tackles, including two for loss, a sack, a pancake block on a touchdown and a rushing score in No. 1 Floral Park’s 41-18 victory over No. 5 Malverne in a Nassau IV semifinal at Hofstra on Saturday.

“It was just hitting your gaps as hard as you can and it was assignment football today,” Berkey said. “Being fast and explosive is really what it came down to. They’re physical and athletic. But everyone did their job. This one meant a lot to us.”

Defensively, Berkey anchored a line alongside Thomas Imperato, Luke Mulligan and Jayden Castro.

In the quarterfinals, Malverne rushed for 356 yards behind star quarterback Isaiah Smith’s 245 yards on the ground. Against Floral park there was no room to run. Malverne was held to 39 rushing yards on 16 attempts in the first half. 

“They played fast. They played physical, which is what we asked them to do,” Floral Park coach Ron Pickett said. “That offense is tough to defend. Our kids did an excellent job.”

“Rocco’s a high-energy kid. He’s only really been playing football for three years. He’s a wrestling kid,” Pickett added. “But on the defensive line, he’s relentless, and you see it. He makes tackles all over. He had a big sack, and he’s always around the football.”

The first quarter was scoreless. Then the Knights exploded for a 27-point second quarter.

Michael Kowalski scored on a 3-yard run with 10:34 remaining in the second quarter. After a Malverne three-and-out, Daniel Ring launched a pass to Ryan Terwilliger, who hauled it in with one hand for a 39-yard touchdown with 8:04 left.

“Just focus. … Just execute. That’s it,” Terwilliger said. “We can’t let a negative play stop us. We gotta keep our focus. And for the touchdown, I was just thinking ‘catch the ball and score’.”

Floral Park then took advantage of two short fields. Ryan DiPippa’s 23-yard punt return gave the Knights the ball at Malverne’s 12-yard line, setting up Berkey’s 1-yard touchdown run.

A high snap on a punt later gave Floral Park the ball at the 3. Kowalski scored behind Berkey’s pancake block with 1:04 in the second quarter to make it 27-0.

Floral Park (9-1) took a 41-6 lead when DePippa caught his second touchdown of the game, this time from Terwilliger on a double pass with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter.

Jayden Johnson scored a rushing touchdown and Isaiah Smith added two scores on the ground for Malverne (6-4) in the second half.

Floral Park will face No. 3 Seaford in the Nassau IV championship game next Friday at Hofstra, with an opportunity to win its first county title since 1976.

“It means a lot. This could be the first time in 50 years, so that’s big for the whole town,” DePippa said. “I know everyone in the community is rooting for us.”