Three takeaways from Week 7 of the high school football season
Farmingdale head coach Buddy Krumenacker looks on during a Nassau I football game against Oceanside on Friday at Farmingdale. Credit: Bob Sorensen
1. No clear front-runner in Class I
The Long Island Class I title seemingly is up for grabs. No team has dominated in a way that suggests it is a lock to win the crown.
Nassau Conference I is all about Farmingdale, Massapequa and Oceanside.
“The guys that are living on the top right now can’t seem to stop each other,” Farmingdale coach Buddy Krumenacker said after beating Oceanside, 63-42, at home on Friday night. “That’s what I would say. I mean, [Oceanside] beat Massapequa [42-39], so everybody’s having trouble stopping each other. That’s for certain.”
The same thing is happening in Suffolk Division I. Four teams are tied atop the league at 6-1: Floyd, Longwood, Ward Melville and Connetquot. Floyd beat Longwood, Longwood beat Ward Melville and Ward Melville delivered the only losses to Floyd and Connetquot.
The division will shake out a bit this week when Connetquot plays Floyd in the regular-season finale.
Farmingdale and Longwood currently are playing the best football in Class I.
2. Streaking in both directions
Three defending Long Island champions, Garden City, Bayport-Blue Point and East Islip, continue to roll through the regular season.
Garden City, the three-time Class II winners, extended the longest winning streak in Long Island history to 50 games with a 34-14 victory over Elmont. The Trojans (8-0) recorded the 32nd undefeated regular season in school history.
Bayport-Blue Point, the two-time Class IV champion, extended Suffolk’s longest current winning streak to 30 games with a 46-7 win over Port Jefferson. East Islip, the Class III champion, improved its winning streak to 15 with a 41-27 victory over Northport.
Perhaps the biggest win of the year came in Copiague when the Eagles broke a six-year winless streak, ending a 42-game losing skid with a 20-19 win over Centereach.
Copiague’s win leaves three teams with double-digit losing streaks.
Lawrence has lost 19 in a row and hosts Island Trees (3-4) Saturday at 11 a.m. in the season finale. Roslyn/Friends Academy has lost 11 in a row and hosts New Hyde Park (3-4) Saturday at 11 a.m. Deer Park (0-7), which has lost 12 in a row in Suffolk, hosts Copiague (1-6) in the season finale on Friday at 6 p.m.
3. Untimely changes
There were three coaching changes early in the season, and none of those programs have recovered enough to make a playoff run.
Eight-year coach Phil Coppola stepped down at Uniondale just before the season and the Knights are 2-5. Patchogue-Medford coach Tom Piccirillo resigned after an 0-2 start to the season. The Raiders are 2-5. And at Lawrence, after an 0-4 start, second-year coach Malik Mavruk left the school to pursue a career in the New York City Fire Department. The Golden Tornadoes are 0-7.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.