Dylan Martini leads way for Wantagh in bounce-back win over Floral Park

Wantagh had come out on the south side of the score against South Side the previous week, taking a one-sided setback for its first loss. Now this football team was trying to head back in the right direction against a good team on a bad weather day.

It wasn’t perfect work out there in the rain vs. the visitors from Floral Park. But Wantagh did enough to ultimately head back in the right direction, holding on for a 21-14 win in Saturday’s Nassau III matchup. 

“Under the conditions we’re in, to beat a good team, I’m satisfied,” coach Keith Sachs said. “We’re very hard on our guys. Even under wins, we don’t give them a lot of credit. … They toughed it out. I’m proud of them.”

Sachs has led this program to at least a county semifinal berth in 24 of the past 26 seasons. Now Wantagh is sitting at 5-1. South Side leads at 6-0. The Cyclones beat Wantagh, 31-7.

“We took a step backwards last week the way we played, not just losing,” Sachs said. “We feel like we played tough this week. The defense played much better than we did last week.”

Dylan Martini was at the forefront of this win, rushing 17 times for 141 yards and a touchdown.

The elusive junior running back set it up for his cousin, Jake Martini, to score the first TD of the game. Dylan ran through the middle, then bounced out toward the left sideline for a 41-yard gain to the 6. Two plays later, Jake took it in from the 1 with 20 seconds to go in the first quarter.

Then Dylan set up his own TD in the second quarter, ripping off a 38-yard run to the Knights’ 32. Two plays later, he ran left and went 31 yards for the score.

“It was a fake reverse keeper, kind of like a read option from the running back position,” he said. “It’s great to watch a play come to fruition after a long week of practicing it.”

Cole Spinelli stopped the ensuing drive. The junior linebacker grabbed a Ryan Connolly throw and raced 49 yards for a pick-6. Niko Zervos booted his third PAT, and it was 21-0.

“It was just good to get the first turnover of the game, especially in a game like this where it really came down to it, knowing in the end that it really helped,” Spinelli said.

Floral Park finally scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Giancarlos Henriquez carried for the TD with 43 seconds left until the intermission.

With 59 seconds left in the third, Ben Meighan could also celebrate. After having a punt return for a touchdown called back in the previous game against Clarke, the Floral Park senior had one that counted, turning the right corner for a 78-yard TD — 21-14.

“He’s really grown in our offense,” coach Ron Pickett said, “and obviously on special teams that helps a lot, too.”

The Knights owned the ball on three more occasions, but they fell to 4-2 after Wantagh came up with a stop each time.

“We did a good job on defense in the second half,” Pickett said. “We shut them down. … We had our opportunities and we made a couple of mistakes that kind of cost us. We’ve got to learn from that.”