Martorella, Hewlett stun Lawrence
Hewlett running back Sam Martorella, right, finds an opening and rushes for his second touchdown of the game in the second quarter against Lawrence at Hewlett High School. Hewlett won the game 35-7. (Sept. 25, 2010) Credit: James Escher
The top of Sam Martorella's helmet barely came up to the jersey numbers of the Lawrence defensive linemen.
Even with his best protection up front hobbled, he wasn't afraid. Neither was Hewlett, which proved the adage about the size of the fight in the (Bull)dog being more important than the size of the dog in the fight.
Martorella, Hewlett's junior running back, had touchdown runs of 20 and 18 yards in the first two quarters. He also threw an 82-yard bomb for a score on a pitch-pass to Michael Gray in the Bulldogs' 35-7 upset victory over visiting Lawrence in a matchup of Conference III unbeatens Saturday afternoon. "Everybody thinks this is a shock, but we knew we were going to pull this out," Martorella said. "I don't really get intimidated by them."
Even if outward appearance didn't faze the Bulldogs, they must've known the defending county champs came into the game as the top scoring team in Nassau with 84 points.
But Hewlett allowed just one touchdown - a 7-yard run by Samson Bialostok that made it 14-7 with 2:31 left in the first half - and forced five turnovers (two INTs, three fumbles). And they did it with all county linebacker Niv Sultan hobbling with an injured shin.
The Bulldogs have given up just 14 points in 10 quarters this season (their game last week was suspended at halftime and was not resumed).
"We were hitting pretty hard," said Dylan Sasson, who intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble. "The coaches drew up a great game plan and we executed it pretty well."
Sasson's interception came on his own 18-yard line to squash Lawrence's first drive of the second half.
On the very next play, Martorella, a lefty, took a pitch left and threw to a wide open Gray, who caught the pass near midfield and scampered the rest of the way for the score. Said Martorella: "I knew that was a touchdown right when I got it."
With 4:44 left in the third quarter, Lawrence ran a hook-and-lateral to Tyler Fredericks for what appeared to be a 71-yard touchdown. But the play was negated by holding, and, coupled with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, pushed the Golden Tornadoes deep into the their own zone.
Hewlett regained possession on the Lawrence 38, and four plays later, Alex Kahn hit Lenny Canales over the middle for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 28-7 with 1:39 left in the third quarter.
Kahn threw for 95 yards on 5 of 10 passing, while Martorella accounted for 188 total yards (82 passing, 71 rushing and 35 receiving). Said Martorella: "We know we're going to see them again, and it's going to be a brawl."
