Massapequa football in playoff form as Tyler Villalta, Joey Diesso lead win over Syosset
Tyler Villalta #25 of Massapequa picks up yards during the second quarter of a Nassau County Conference I football game against Syosset at Berner Middle School in Massapequa on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Credit: James Escher
The football playoffs beckon next weekend and on Friday night Massapequa looked as if it couldn’t wait for them to start.
Massapequa is the reigning Nassau Conference I and Long Island Class I champion. It let the rest of the Island know it’s ready to defend those with a 55-20 shellacking of Syosset under the lights at Berner Middle School in Massapequa.
Massapequa (7-1) scored touchdowns on each of its first eight possessions and now enters the postseason on a seven-game winning streak after a three-point loss to Oceanside in the season opener.
Tyler Villalta continued a special season by rushing for 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns and caught two touchdown passes. Joey Diesso was 4-for-7 passing for 84 yards and the two scores and also touchdown runs of 22 and 11 yards.
Ethan Dizon was 8-for-18 passing for 137 yards and two touchdowns for Syosset (5-3)
“This is November — it’s our month,” Massapequa coach Kevin Shippos said. “We told to play this like a playoff game. This is November 1 and championships are won in November. We tell our kids all season that we’re preparing for November. That’s when you want to be playing your best.”
“I thought we played great,” Diesso said. “It wasn’t perfect but we executed on just about everything we worked on.”
But it wasn’t just the offense that clicked. Massapequa had four tackles for a loss, two sacks and recovered a pair of fumbled kickoff returns to set up two of its touchdowns. Alex Chillemi had a sack, another tackles for a loss and recovered one of the fumbles. Nick Scannapico had the other fumble recovery.
“This is what it looks like when we are playing our game,” Chillemi said. “There was a good opponent in front of us and we still played our game.”
Massapequa is guaranteed at least one home playoff game but Oceanside and rival Farmingdale could be obstacles ahead.
“We don’t care where we get seeded,” Villalta said. “We have to play those teams anyway.”
’Pequa’s first three scores were on Villalta’s first touchdown run and his two TD receptions, however Dizon threw a pair of crisp touchdown passes to hang in. When he connected with speedy Adam Marvin on a 55-yard score, Syosset was still within 21-14 with 5:23 in the half.
Massapequa then scored 21 points in the final 3:28 before halftime to take a 42-14 edge into the intermission.
After the Syosset score, Frank Romano returned the kickoff 48 yards to the Syosset 28 and four snaps later Villalta was on his way to a 7-yard touchdown run. Massapequa got a huge sack from Chillemi en route to forcing a quick punt and then went 60 yards on seven plays — including a nifty hook-and-lateral — for a Diesso 22-yard TD run with 1:23 in the half.
On the next play, Syosset fumbled the kickoff and Chillemi recovered and on the play after that Luke Gargiulo rushed for an 18-yard touchdown and the 42-14 lead.
“When we pulled away we had a bunch of different guys touching the ball,” Shippos said. “When that happens, we are hard to stop.”
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.