Locust Valley defense smothers North Shore to score upset victory

If the adage about defense winning championships is fact, the race for the Nassau IV football championship has a very dangerous and unexpected contender in the mix.

Locust Valley validated an impressive regular season and may have sent a shiver through the others vying for the county championship on Saturday as it ousted defending county champion and host North Shore, 21-7, on Saturday.

The Falcons (6-3) scored the final three touchdowns of the game and got a 201-yard rushing performance from slippery senior running back Michael DiLorenzo. Yet it was what they did when they didn’t have the ball that defines their victory.

After scoring on its game-opening possession, North Shore drove the ball into the red zone on three different occasions and to the Falcon 24 once only to come up empty all four times.

“We defend our goal line with our lives,” senior Michael Hancock said. “It’s personal for us.”

Added senior Charlie Pisciotta: “Those are the moments when we show we want it more.”

Locust Valley, seeded fifth for this postseason, returns to the county semifinals for the first time since 2019 when it meets No. 1 Seaford on Friday at noon at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. The Falcons last advanced to the title game when they won the 2015 championship.

Seaford knocked Locust Valley out of the playoffs in its last four appearances, 2016-2019.

North Shore’s Garret Gates rushed eight times for 52 yards on a game-opening 75-yard drive and scored on a 1-yard run, but the Vikings (4-5) couldn’t break through on Locust Valley after that.

In the second-quarter they got two great chances. The Vikings drove to the Falcons 7 and after a bad snap cost them 11 yards, Gates fourth-and-14 pass into the end zone was batted away by Philip Terrell in the end zone. They again reached the Falcons 7 on their next possession, but DiLorenzo and Pisciotti stopped Gates on a fourth-and-1.

A third quarter drive reached the Locust Valley 16 and ended with three incomplete passes and a fourth-quarter drive got to the 24 before Hancock successfully defended a pass on a fourth-and-5.

“When things get tough, that’s when we show we’re tougher,” DiLorenzo said.

“It’s been lights-out defense all year for us,” Falcons coach Michael Gilbert said.

DiLorenzo was at his best running the toss sweep, often getting around the corner and then cutting back toward the middle for extra yardage. He did just that on his 44-yard score to tie it 7-7 in the first quarter. And he did it again on a 37-yard burst in the 92-yard drive that ended with junior Jackson Hiban’s 1-yard touchdown for a 14-7 halftime lead.

“He cuts it back because he’s got such great vision of the field,” Hancock said.

“After the season he’s had, he should be considered the best running back in Conference IV,” Gilbert said.

The Locust Valley seniors arrived at the school with the football program in a dry spell where it won just four games in two seasons. They have done little other than win as they grew up in youth football and put their minds toward putting the Falcons back on a winning track.

“We saw the team lose and lose and lose when we were freshmen and we weren’t going to go out like that,” Hancock said.

“We took it upon ourselves to bring the program back,” DiLorenzo said.

Gilbert’s arrival before the 2022 season may have been the secret ingredient. He played at Garden City where he won the 2011 Martone Award as the county’s top lineman. He said the Falcons play the same defense Garden City used when he was a Trojan.

“He makes sure we are always prepared for whatever is coming,” Pisciotta said.

“The key to our defense is that they believe in each other,” Gilbert said. “They know anyone can make the big play and someone will.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.