Sara Kealey's touchdown run, conversion pass give MacArthur flag football tight win over Massapequa

Part of being a successful quarterback is knowing that things may not always go as planned.

Sara Kealey’s 1-yard touchdown run gave MacArthur a five-point lead over Massapequa with 16:03 remaining, leading to a “no-doubt” decision by coach Steve Fazzolari to go for two. But did the play go how he drew it up?

“No, it never does,” he laughed.

But having a player like Kealey helps. The elusive Kealey found Hailey Metzger for the conversion and the eventual winning points. Massapequa cut it to one with 2:43 left, but a series of defensive plays — including a pass breakup by Taylor Garro and Metzger on Massapequa’s one-point conversion to tie the game — ensured a 14-13 win for visiting MacArthur in Thursday’s Nassau Conference I flag football game.

“I think it was a great team effort,” Kealey said. “No matter if you’re on the field, off the field, in certain plays or not — everyone had a great effort. Totally a team effort to complete the win.”

Kealey, an Oneonta soccer commit, completed 15 of 25 passes for 161 yards. She also had an interception with 11:17 left, one of four takeaways for MacArthur (7-1, 4-1 Nassau I).

“Just instinctively they knew how to work together and cover that team over there running crazy routes,” Fazzolari said. “So I was very pleased with the defensive effort.”

Defense accounted for the game’s first points; Ella Mancini had a 25-yard pick-six to give MacArthur a 6-0 lead with 15:28 left in the first half. Mancini had two first-half interceptions.

Massapequa (7-2, 4-2) scored on the first drive of the second half, with Delaney Donato finding Lena Fleischer for a 2-yard touchdown. Donato connected with Grace Trotta on the ensuing 1-point conversion to give Massapequa a 7-6 lead with 21:13 left.

The next MacArthur drive featured a tremendous 40-yard grab by Meghan Wetzel, who had six catches for 128 yards, but the Generals turned it over on downs following a fourth-and-goal at the 6. Wetzel had an interception on the ensuing defensive play, though, returning it 28 yards and setting up the winning touchdown.

Donato threw a 13-yard pass to Olivia Trojanowski for the final score of the game. The Generals punted with 1:15 left, and Massapequa had possession on the MacArthur 30 after a 15-yard return by Michela Napolitano. Meaghan Campbell came through with a huge second-down sack, and Wetzel had the game-sealing pass breakup on a last-chance, fourth-and-16 attempt.

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.