Rielly accounts for 6 TDs as Glenn reaches final
John Glenn's Ryan Rielly soars on his way to score in the 4th quarter of the Suffolk high school Division IV football semifinal playoff game against Mt. Sinai. Credit: Photo by Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The first time Glenn's Ryan Rielly faced the Mount Sinai football team this season, he amassed a school-record 506 yards, with four passing touchdowns and two rushing.
In yesterday's Suffolk Division IV semifinal, he couldn't match that total.
He sure got close, though.
Rielly again threw for four touchdowns and ran for two, amassing 432 total yards - completing 9 of 15 passes for 209 yards and rushing for 223 yards on 29 carries - as No. 1 Glenn (10-0) beat Mount Sinai, 40-21, to advance to the county final against 8-2 Babylon at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Stony Brook University. No. 4 Mount Sinai is 7-3.
"Ryan Rielly is one of the best kids I've ever coached," Glenn coach Dave Shanahan said. "He's elusive, he's accurate. It's a pleasure working with him. He does his homework during the week and practices for it."
Glenn led Mount Sinai 20-14 at the half behind Rielly's 33-yard touchdown run and TD passes of 73 and 17 yards. It wasn't much of a cushion, but Rielly accounted for three more touchdowns - TD passes of 48 and 37 yards and a 37-yard run - to make it 40-14.
Glenn limited the Mustangs to one touchdown in the second half: Josh Morales' 16-yard run in the fourth quarter. "We had to make halftime adjustments off their wing-T offense," Shanahan said. "They were flexing out our defensive ends. We slanted the DE into the tight end, and that helped us a lot."
In other words, even when they were leading, just being good wasn't good enough for the Knights.
Glenn's defense was led by inside linebacker Joe Giaramita, who had 11 tackles and recovered a fumbled punt. That set up a four-play, 50-yard drive capped by Rielly's 48-yard pass to Nick Wagner, who took off up the right sideline, broke a tackle and chugged into the end zone for the score. Wagner finished with four catches for 84 yards, including a 17-yard TD catch.
Also making big contributions were Tom Forsberg (four catches, 88 yards, 73-yard TD reception) and Kevin Massa (37-yard TD catch, interception, sack).
