VonBargen, Balzano put Wantagh in final

Wantagh accumulated more than half of its total yardage for the game on one drive. But that was enough to put the Warriors into the Nassau III championship game.

The 76-yard march ended on the first play of the fourth quarter when Brian VonBargen scored on a 6-yard run and Matt Balzano followed with a two-point conversion run that carried the Warriors to a 14-6 victory over gutty Elmont Friday night at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium. Wantagh (9-1) will face Garden City next Friday at 7 p.m. at Hofstra. The Trojans won the regular-season meeting, 21-3. Elmont is 6-4.

Wantagh ran the ball on 11 of the 12 plays during its victory march that took 5:10. VonBargen carried six times for 48 yards including a 20-yard bolt that moved the ball to the Spartans' 24. VonBargen had scored the Warriors' first touchdown on a 2-yard run with 1:28 left before halftime that tied the score at 6. It followed a blocked punt by Christian Labenberg that he recovered on the Elmont 3.

Elmont had an opportunity to tie the score late when it took over at the Wantagh 40 with 2:12 left after Dennis Melendez stopped VonBargen for a 7-yard loss on third down, forcing a punt.

But the Wantagh defense, that limited Elmont to 137 yards -- the Spartans only surrendered 132 -- came up with a couple of big plays. Joe Brasile made one sack early in the drive and Shaun Charkowick made the biggest play when he sacked William Faison on an all-out blitz that left the Spartans in a third-and-22 hole that they could not dig out of. Faison's desperation fourth-down pass fell incomplete assuring Wantagh of a place in the county final.

Wantagh linebacker Peter Brasile made 10 tackles. Balzano rushed for 64 yards and VonBargen 53. Elmont's Qusarn Caldwell scored on a 51-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and wound up with 123 yards rushing. But only eight of them came in the second half.