Santo's 113 yards lead West Islip victory
West Islip quarterback Anthony Santo scores a touchdown in the second half. (Oct. 9, 2010) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
Anthony Santo was feeling no ill effects from the injury that he suffered in his team's first game of the season when he rolled his ankle. Last night he rolled up 113 yards on the ground as he led the West Islip Lions over the Smithtown West Bulls, 22-19, in a Suffolk Division II game.
"This win is just great for our team it's going to pump up our self-esteem," Santo said. "I think we are more confident now and it's going to be a good season."
In a close contest, the Bulls would get within reach only to have the Lions (3-2) pull away. The Lions jumped to an 8-0 lead courtesy of two Tom Woodburn field goals which were sandwiched around a safety.
The Bulls tied the score on a James Pannell 23-yard run in the second quarter, but that is as close as they would get. The bigger Bulls (3-2) simply could not keep up with the Lions. On their homecoming night, the Bulls fell despite a time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter. Pannell had 84 yards on 17 carries for the game.
Known for their spread offense the Lions did some damage through the air when Santo hit Rob Pescitelli with a 41-yard pass to put the visitors up 15-8.
"That was just backyard football," Santo said. "Just throw and catch, we do it in practice and tonight we did it in a game."
With 10:29 left in the game the Bulls staged an almost come from behind drive. But the story of this game was penalties and it was a late infraction that pushed the Bulls from the Lions 19-yard line back to the 39 as time wound down.
"When you go up against another great team you can't make mistakes," Bulls coach Pete Cerullo said. "We got a 15-yard penalty on the back end of the play that was a drive killer."
Anthony Gatto picked up a fumble by Mike Cestaro (77 yards on six carries), and the Bulls started on their own 12 yard line. It looked like the Bulls would send the homecoming crowd home happy as they drove down the field even getting the help of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on linebacker Frank Breir.
Even with the help of that infraction, the Bulls got hit with their own mistake. Then on fourth down, Matthew Helderg threw a pass off a flea flicker that was picked off by Dan Johnson which iced the game for the Lions.
"We just wanted to drive the ball and we had a bend but don't brake attitude on defense," Lions coach Steve Miceti said. "This means a lot to our program being 1-2 at one point, our backs were against the wall and a lot of people were second guessing us."
