Unbeaten Carey's Justin DePietro rushes for three touchdowns, stars on defense to hand Mepham its first loss
Justin DePietro of Carey carries the ball down field during a Nassau Conference II football game against Mepham on Saturday, October 5, 2024. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The bar in Nassau Conference II has been set and Carey has set it high.
In a matchup of the last two unbeaten Nassau II teams, Justin DePietro and the Seahawks left little doubt who is the team to beat with an impressive 27-14 victory over visiting Mepham on Saturday.
DePietro was the best player on the field regardless of which team had possession. When Carey (4-0) had the ball, the gifted sophomore rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns. And when the Pirates (3-1) had it, the 6-foot, 200 pound DePietro spent a bunch of the day in their backfield, amassing two quarterback sacks and three other tackles for loss.
“He’s just a beast in the backfield, rushing the ball hard all the time,” lineman Ali Jouida said. “He’s just a sophomore, but he plays like seniors do. It’s just awesome.”
“We began to see him excel on the defensive side of the ball in the middle of last season, but we had a senior-heavy backfield last year and he didn’t really touch the ball much,” Carey coach Mike Stanley said. “He’s certainly touching it a lot this season.”
Mepham not only came into the game unbeaten, but also unscored upon. The Seahawks put an end to the latter quickly by scoring on their two first-half possessions. On the game’s fourth play, DePietro squirted through a hole on the left side and went 36 yards for a touchdown. And after forcing the Pirates to go three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Carey went on a 12-play drive caped by a 2-yard DePietro touchdown.
“We knew they were good and what they’d done, and we set the tone right away,” Jouida said.
“[Carey] came out in the first quarter and punched us a little, stunned us a little,” Mepham coach Tom Mazeika said. “We were better in the second half, but they executed better today. We’ll have a better game if we see them again.”
DePietro is equal parts slippery and bruising, but the superb blocking in front of him makes it all possible. There were plenty of holes to run through from the line of Howie Silverstein, Sean McNamee, Richie Metzger, Jouida and Matteo Squillante. But he often followed up backs Matthew Smith, Theo Andrikopoulos and Christian Todaro through them.
“Running behind all those guys is the best thing ever,” DePietro said. “I followed Smith and Theo for that first touchdown and they were great all day.”
After DePitro notched his first sack on Mepham’s third straight three-and-out to start the game, he scored his third touchdown on a 59-yard run as Carey took a 19-0 lead into the half.
Mepham found itself during halftime and threatened to turn it into a game when it started the third quarter with a 16-play, 71-yard drive that was capped when quarterback Owen Heller dove over the top of the line from 1 yard out to make it 19-7.
But Carey’s Tristan Hickis came though with a pivotal interception to end the Pirates next drive and the Seahawks cashed in three plays later when quarterback Chris Obertis connected with Billy Koutsoumbaris on a catch-and-run that went 54 yards for a touchdown. Koutsoumbaris got behind the Mepham defense and caught the ball with nothing but 40 yards of open field in front of him.
“When we scored it made [the interception] feel even better,” Hickis said. “We needed something to take the momentum back and when we scored we had it.”
Mepham got within 27-14 on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Heller to Jake Classie on the first play of the fourth quarter. Carey took the Pirates last breath with a 20-play drive that consumed 10:30 before turning it over on downs at the 2.
Obertis was 11-for-15 passing for 108 yards and Koutsoumbaris had nine catches for 97 yards for Carey. Matthew Biscardi rushed for 75 yards and made 12 tackles and Heller was 9-for-18 passing for 125 yards, the touchdown and the interception for Mepham.
Asked about prevailing in the battle of unbeatens, DePietro replied, “It’s a great win, but it’s not a championship game or anything. It’s just a Week 4 victory in the end.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.