Jonathan Maldonado steps in to carry Whitman to win over Ward Melville
Whitman's Johnny Maldonado walks in his first touchdown of the game during a Suffolk Division I semifinal playoff game against Ward Melville in Huntington Station on Saturday, November 13, 2021. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Jonathan Maldonado carried the ball one time through three quarters.
With starting halfback AJ Evans III sidelined with cramps, Whitman coach Robin Rosa called on Maldonado to help deliver the school’s first championship appearance in 37 years.
Maldonado rushed nine times for 56 yards, including a 10-yard scoring run with 5:06 left, that sealed Whitman’s 35-29 win over Ward Melville on Saturday in a Suffolk Division I semifinal playoff game. The Maldonado touchdown run, his second of the game, gave the Wildcats a 35-21 lead.
Top-seeded Whitman (10-0) set a school record with its 10th win for the first time in the program’s 83-year history. The Wildcats will meet No. 2 Floyd (9-1) for the Suffolk Division I championship Friday at Stony Brook University at 7 p.m.
Floyd upended Whitman with a 27-21 win in overtime for the 2021 spring title.
"It felt so good to contribute to such a big game," Maldonado said. "I stayed low and ran off some amazing blocks. And every run was crucial because they were trying to strip the ball. I made sure I was holding on and no way I was giving the ball up. I knew what was on the line. Now, we’re one step closer to our goal of a title."
Whitman owns two Suffolk titles in 1974 and 1984.
"We have two of the toughest runners on Long Island," said fullback Jacob Somer, the lead blocker in the Whitman offense. "We don’t get enough credit for our running game because our passing game is so good. That was a championship drive at the end of the game. We kept getting first downs, running the clock, and keeping Ward Melville off the field."
With inclement weather forcing a 45-minute delay and the rain and wind making the passing game more difficult, the Wildcats turned to the run game in the fourth quarter. The Whitman offensive line, left guard Diego Romero and left tackle Logan Elmore, center Liam Villanti, freshman right guard Xavier Ali and right tackle Belendjy Geneus put the team on their collective backs.
"Ward Melville matches up so well with us," said Whitman coach Robin Rosa, in his 12th season. "We were holding on. And it was a wild one, weather and all. We went with the run game because our line has really come together."
With Evans sidelined, Maldonado filled in admirably.
"Johnny moves the pile and thus moves the chains," Rosa said. "It’s nothing fancy. He finds a hole and drives forward. He’s a very tough runner."
Whitman, which averaged 40 points per game, rode the passing arm of Nicholas Bottoni and an abundance of exciting playmakers into the postseason. In similar fashion, Ward Melville rode the play of dual threat quarterback Chris Prussen and hard running halfback Nick Gaffney.
The first half was a microcosm of each team’s season.
Ward Melville (7-3) opened the scoring with a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by a Prussen to Gaffney 9-yard touchdown pass for the 7-0 lead. Whitman answered on its first play from scrimmage. Bottoni fired a bubble pass to Brandon Ivy, who followed a monstrous block by Tyreik Mays-McCoy on the edge. Ivy blew past the last defender and raced 75 yards for the tying score.
Ward Melville responded with a 13-play, 72-yard drive. On fourth down and 30, they went with a gadget play. Prussen lateralled to Kevin Dolan, who’d moved from offensive tackle to tight end. Dolan fired a pass downfield to a wide-open Frank Carroll in the end zone for the score and the 14-7 lead.
Undaunted, Whitman fired right back. Driving 72 yards in seven plays, keyed by a 34-yard pass from Bottoni to Ivy at the Ward Melville 1. Maldonado scored on a 1-yard run to tie it at 14.
And so, it went. Not to be outdone, Ward Melville went 78 yards in eight plays capped by a Prussen 14-yard run for the 21-14 lead. Whitman came right back on an 80-yard drive in seven plays capped by an Evans 3-yard touchdown run to tie it at 21 with 5:10 left in the half.
The Wildcats took a 28-21 lead when Bottoni found a leaping McCoy for a 14-yard touchdown with 1:27 left in the half.
"We’re on the cusp of something very special," Rosa said. "there’s still work to be done."
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
