Seaford rallies to top Roosevelt in Conference IV
Seaford's Joe Kirincic celebrates his team's fourth Nassau Conference IV final championship in a row by a score of 28-25 over Roosevelt. (Nov. 20, 2010) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Travis Langan took a cue from Van Halen - might as well jump.
With top-seeded Seaford facing an early deficit in its Nassau Conference IV football final against No. 2 Roosevelt, Langan took his first handoff of the game and leaped over the line for a 1-yard touchdown. "I just saw everyone crash, and I decided to hop in," Langan said.
The Vikings never trailed again, as they earned a fourth straight county title with a 28-25 victory over the Rough Riders Saturday at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium.
Seaford (11-0) has won 43 straight games against Conference IV opponents and 23 overall. The Vikings will be seeking their second straight Long Island title when they square off against Suffolk champion Glenn at 4:30 p.m. next Saturday at Stony Brook. Seaford and Glenn are the only two undefeated public schools remaining on Long Island.
Roosevelt's only two losses this season were to Seaford, and they were by a combined four points.
After three straight rushing touchdowns by John Troisi, Langan and Justin Buckley (205 rushing yards on 28 carries), Roosevelt narrowed the lead to 21-19 on Erin Parker's 5-yard TD on a sweep to the left side. However, the Vikings responded as Joe Kirincic connected on a 15-yard scoring strike to Brian Gilbert on fourth-and-6 with 2:01 to play.
Langan, who was a menace on defense with five tackles for a loss and a forced fumble, and his backfield mates weren't about to let Seaford's streak die. The Vikings trailed 13-0 after the first quarter, courtesy of two Marquell Sanders touchdown receptions from Donte Colter (the Rough Riders' starting running back).
Seaford finally got on the board with 4:28 left in the second quarter after Pat Conroy's 16-yard TD run, and then Pat Conroy recovered a fumble on the Roosevelt 23.
As the pressure mounted on Seaford, Langan gave his team relief by flying into the end zone to make it 14-13 with 1:06 to play before the half.
"I figured we'd be anxious out there after that start," Buckley said. "But we were calm and we just wore them down."
An onside kick (one of four attempted by Seaford) was recovered by Daniel Arena and gave Seaford the ball at midfield. Buckley converted the three-play, 29-second drive with a 32-yard shake-and-bake through traffic to make it 21-14, 37 seconds before halftime.
"I know it's unorthodox, but this isn't the NFL," Seaford coach Rob Perpall said about the onside kicks.
Very true, coach. In the NFL, you rarely see running backs go 6-for-12 for 169 yards and three touchdowns through the air as Colter did. His last TD pass to Khalil Wilson, however, was too little, too late, as it left the Rough Riders down by three with a minute to play.
Colter was also intercepted by Anthony Marino and Jared Saperstein. The latter gave Seaford the ball at its own 30 with 9:56 to play, and the Vikings' ensuing drive milked nearly eight minutes off the clock before the Kirincic-to-Gilbert touchdown.
