Wilsher, Gamblin lead Hicksville over Hempstead
Hicksville High School quarterback #23 Brandon Gamblin rushes for a yardage gain in the first quarter of a Nassau County Conference I varsity football game. (Sept. 8, 2010) Credit: James Escher
The culmination was a swarm tackle to force a turnover on downs.
The process was Antonio Wilsher's tough runs ending in mass pileups, and Brandon Gamblin eluding Hempstead defenders on the outside.
Hicksville's brief recovery - the Comets play host to defending Long Island champion Freeport next Thursday - will require plenty of ice, but its result yesterday was a favorable one, earning a 20-12 win in the Conference I football opener at Hempstead.
For Hempstead, it was another foot (literally) of frustration, as the Tigers lost their 10th straight game dating to the 2008 playoffs.
On fourth-and-4 from the Hicksville 13-yard line with 2:33 remaining in the game, Malik Howard, who scored both Hempstead touchdowns, took a toss left and was bottled up by a pack of Hicksville tacklers a foot short of the first-down marker.
"I was just like 'let's get it, let's get it,'" Wilsher said when asked what he told his team in the defensive huddle before the fourth-down play. "Just pumping them up."
The Comets preserved an eight-point lead given to them by Gamblin with 7:43 left in the game. The quarterback, who rushed for 62 yards on 14 carries, was wrapped up on a run left, but changed direction and scampered in from 6 yards out. Said Gamblin: "I had a wall in front of me, and I kind of hesitated. So I spun off it and redirected field."
No redirection was needed on Gamblin's first TD run, a 23-yard sweep around left end on the Comets' first drive.
Wilsher, who converted the two-point conversion after Gamblin's score, carried the rest of the Hicksville load and found paydirt on a 4-yard run to make it 14-0 with 1:51 left in the first quarter.
Wilsher carried the ball 20 times for 85 yards, but none was more than 9 yards. All 20 came between the tackles.
"These kids here in Hempstead are hard-hitting kids," Wilsher said, adding he thought he dislocated his thumb during the game. "There were piles and piles of guys on me. It was a hard game and I loved it."
"He's a horse for us," added Hicksville coach Craig Stueber. "He knows three-and-a-half, four yards every carry is fine."
Fumble recoveries by Marquis Wells and Jeremy Moore led to Howard's touchdowns in the second and third quarters, pulling Hempstead to within 20-12. But the Tigers were their own worst enemies with nine first-half penalties for 85 yards.
Said Hempstead coach Antoine Moore: "Football is a game of inches, and we came up short."
