High school football playoff quarterfinals preview, plus game picks

Two years after ending the longest losing streak in Long Island football history at 42 games, Copiague is back in the playoffs for the first time since 1994.

Seniors Jaiden Urbina, Asante Daniels, Gregory Brooks and Charles Williams helped second-year coach Phil Fortuno guide the Eagles to a 4-4 regular season. Copiague is the No. 8 seed and will visit Half Hollow Hills East in the quarterfinal round of the Suffolk Division II playoffs at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Urbina was a sophomore on varsity when Copiague ended the streak in 2024. Now the senior offensive lineman makes the blocking calls for the Eagles. He and his classmates grew up watching the losing streak.

“It was always just a thing inside the locker room, we always knew we were going to be great,” Urbina said. “It was just a matter of time when it’d come out.”

Fortuno had coached some of these seniors when they were sophomores. They went undefeated on junior varsity. By about the sixth game of that JV season, he and his assistants had started to see what the group could do when it got to varsity.

“To be honest, it wasn’t this season,” Fortuno said of when he first thought the group could take Copiague to the playoffs. “It was probably their sophomore year when we had that undefeated season. I’m like, this is the group.”

The Eagles won two games last season. Fortuno used that record to set the expectations for this year.

“Two games isn’t going to cut it this year,” Fortuno recalled telling the team. “We got to make sure that we’re out there competing every day.”

Getting everyone to practice took some planning. Fortuno draws up a tentative schedule in March so players with summer jobs can give it to their bosses and arrange their work schedules around football.

The Eagles worked four days a week in the spring and summer. By the time the season started, Fortuno felt both sides of the ball were prepared.

Daniels hadn’t played running back on JV. He asked Fortuno about switching as a junior, then spent plenty of time in the weight room and studying film before his senior season.

He rushed for 221 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries in a 39-14 win over Smithtown East on Oct. 17. to get them to a 3-3 record.

“We just had players that stepped up to different positions,” Daniels said. “We’re willing to be uncomfortable in spots that we usually don’t play. It’s for the team’s benefit . . . We realized we can show everybody we’re not the same old Copiague.”

Brooks, an edge rusher, finished the regular season with 18 sacks. Fortuno said that even with double teams, Brooks found ways to get in the backfield.

“His motor is just nonstop,” Fortuno said. “He continues and continues and continues to fight.”

Williams, a senior captain and two-way starter, said the teammate bond went back to middle school. The seniors practiced together at Tanner Park and played Madden together away from the field.

“We all love playing Madden together,” Williams said. “We have a really tight bond, and I think that’s really what pushed us to go to the next level.”

Before the Deer Park game on Oct. 23, Fortuno told the Eagles what a win would mean. They could put Copiague back in the playoffs for the first time in 32 years.

It was all Eagles. Copiague won 38-7 behind Daniels’ 143 rushing yards and three TDs.

After the handshakes, Fortuno looked toward the sideline and saw his players celebrating with their families. Former players texted him to congratulate the team.

“Just to see the excitement in their faces,” Fortuno said, “celebrating with their families on the side, it was truly amazing.”

NASSAU II

(5) Mepham (3-5) at (4) Calhoun (4-4), Friday, 2 p.m.: This intradistrict rivalry puts neighborhood bragging rights on the line. These teams met in Week 2 and Calhoun won, 25-19, in overtime. Jacob Fortin passed for 758 yards and seven scores for Calhoun. And Adam Erlichman has thrown for 865 yards eight scores for the Pirates.

NASSAU IV

(5) Malverne (5-3) at (4) Cold Spring Harbor (4-4), 7 p.m.: The Seahawks beat the Mules, 19-8, in Week 2 The better ground game will win this one. Roy Testa has rushed for 727 yards and seven TDs for CSH. Jayden Johnson has 662 yards rushing and four scores for the Mules.

CHSFL AAA

(6) Chaminade (3-7) at (3) St. Anthony’s (5-4), Friday, 7 p.m.: Halfback Xavier Bala is in range of breaking Matt Hahn’s all-time rushing record at St Anthony’s. The Friars beat Chaminade, 49-48, in Week 7. The Flyers went for the winning two-point conversion and came up empty. St. Anthony’s leads the series 46-15, winning 31 of the last 34 games.

SUFFOLK I

(6) Whitman (4-4) at (3) Longwood (6-2), Friday, 6 p.m.: In the first meeting in the season opener, Whitman held a 26-14 lead at halftime. Longwood scored 23 second-half points to come back and win, 37-26. Lions halfback Kyon Sarwari has rushed for 1,004 yards and 15 TDs in the regular season.

With Andy Slawson

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.