Floyd football captures Suffolk Division I title as Ja'Quan Thomas runs for five touchdowns and 261 yards 

Ja’Quan Thomas had a taste of success in Floyd’s 2023 postseason run, running for a touchdown in each of the Colonials’ four playoff games after being called up from the junior varsity.

All eyes were on the junior running back this season, and he became the star of the show.

Thomas, Long Island’s leading rusher, ran for 261 yards and five touchdowns on 30 carries to lead the top-seeded Colonials to a 34-6 win over No. 3 Ward Melville in the Suffolk Division I championship game Saturday night at Stony Brook’s LaValle Stadium. Floyd won its second straight county title and 15th since 2001.

“[Last year] helped me so much with confidence coming in here,” Thomas said. “As I’m running the ball, it helps so much because I’m used to it. I know I have to get in the end zone, at the end of the day.”

Thomas has rushed for 34 touchdowns and 2,422 yards on 274 carries in 11 games.

“He just has great vision,” Floyd coach Paul Longo said. “He has great footwork and [he’s] lean. He’s big and strong, obviously. He’s really kind of a high school Derrick Henry type of guy.”

Right guard Aaron Fisher said: “He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever met, and he trusts us. That’s a big thing. We go out and we put ourselves in front for him. He trusts us, we trust him. We have a unique bond with him.”

Thomas runs behind an offensive line of (from left to right) Hunter Arcuri, Joe Melecio, Derek Amato, Fisher and Jeru Hall.

Floyd (10-1) will meet Massapequa (10-1) for the Long Island Class I title in a game tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at LaValle Stadium. It is a rematch of last year’s Long Island Class I championship game, which Massapequa won, 35-7.

“This is all of our dreams,” Thomas said. “We get to come back, go to the LIC again. This time we’re going to try to take it home all the way.”

Amato said: “Getting our revenge from last year, that’s all we’re worrying about right now.”

Thomas gave Floyd a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard touchdown run with 8:37 left in the first quarter. He doubled the lead 6:34 later with a 6-yard touchdown run.

Thomas nearly extended Floyd’s advantage to three touchdowns with 11:55 left in the second quarter, but he fumbled at the goal line. Joey Karpowicz recovered the fumble in the end zone for Ward Melville (9-2) and  scored on a 1-yard  run eight plays later with 7:58 left in the first half. A blocked extra point kept the score at 14-6, the eventual halftime score. Joey Benedetto had 67 of his 176 rushing yards on the scoring drive.

The start of the second half was a roller coaster.

Ward Melville’s Christian Hubbard recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff at the Floyd 23. Two plays later, David Gonzalez picked off Patriots quarterback Hudson Philbrick. On the next play, Thomas broke free for a 72-yard touchdown run to put Floyd ahead 20-6 just 1:12 into the half, although the extra point was missed.

“I was like, ‘Oh, God, here we go. Another one that I’m going to have to go for two in the end,’ ” Longo said.

Floyd fell to Ward Melville in the regular season on Oct. 11, a 22-21 road loss in which AJ Cannet’s potential go-ahead two-point pass in the final seconds failed.

For the second straight season, the Colonials earned a victory in the county championship game against the opponent that had handed them their lone regular-season loss. They defeated Sachem North for the 2023 Suffolk I title.

After Thomas' third of five touchdowns, Ward Melville could not cleanly field the ensuing kickoff, which Floyd’s Dashawn Jackson recovered at the Patriots' 15. Four plays later, Thomas had a 1-yard touchdown run to give Floyd a 27-6 lead with 8:45 left in the third quarter. Thomas’ 3-yard touchdown run with 11:55 left made it 34-6.

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.