Massapequa football dialed up trick play, and boy was it a treat

These were desperate times, and so Massapequa pulled out a magic trick from the playbook.

This football team had been preparing well and reacting well to adversity. But it was down six in overtime against Farmingdale in the Nassau Conference I title game at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. And if it couldn’t convert fourth-and-7 from the Dalers’ 17, there would be no repeat county championship nor shot at repeating as a Long Island champ.

So there was running back Tyler Villalta lined up as the quarterback in the shotgun and quarterback Joey Diesso split wide left. Villalta took the snap, faked a little handoff, ran left and then threw to one of his best friends in the world in the left side of the end zone — Diesso.

The senior-to-senior play hadn’t been tested in a game after being installed about three weeks earlier, “and on almost the last play of the season, we pulled it out and I just wasn’t going to let it go by,” Diesso said. “I knew I had to make a catch. The ball was in the air and I just watched it into any arms. Tyler made a great throw, though. I owe it all to him.”

Villalta called it “a pitch and catch.”

Chris Bascetta followed with the PAT. Massapequa won 35-34, then held on to edge Floyd, 42-40, in the Long Island Class I championship game, completing an 11-0 run after an opening loss.

“The Play” on that memorable November night towered over all the others.

“Because if we don’t make that play, our season’s over,” said Kevin Shippos, their 14-year coach. “It’s fourth-and-7. It’s overtime. It’s do or die. So, yeah, that for sure was the play of the year.”

Make no mistake, this Massapequa offense made a lot of plays. The team averaged about 40 points and never scored fewer than 34.

“It starts with our offensive coordinator, Mike Ambury,” Shippos said. “It’s his second year doing this and he does a great job coming up with designs and schemes and trying to get the ball in our playmakers’ hands.

“It’s not just a one-dimensional offense where it’s just Tyler. We love to spread the ball around to all of our skill guys. And our offensive line, we’ve been working all winter long, all spring long, all summer long. They’re a great group. Their biggest attribute is their smarts.”

So Villalta — working behind tackles Connor Pineda and A.J. Molenko, guards Tristan Tarasi and Tommy Biggin and center Alex van Schuyler, with Nolan Wieczorek also starting some games on the line — rushed for 1,584 yards and 29 touchdowns.

And Diesso fired for 1,286 yards and 20 TDs and ran for 555 yards and nine scores.

“He’s one of those kids that he has a chip on his shoulder,” Shippos said. “He does whatever he needs to do to get the job done. It all goes back to having extreme confidence in himself.”

Diesso and Villalta will be departing with 13 other seniors.

“A relatively small class,” Shippos said.

So how about a three-peat?

Shippos does like the mix he has returning. Still, he did say that “Farmingdale has a lot of guys back.” And Diesso and Villalta leave large shoes.

“But,” Shippos said, “we’re going to be right in the thick of things again next year.”