East Meadow tops Freeport in thriller
East Meadow's Robbie Healy is hoisted up by teammate David Zea after beating Freeport, 34-33. (Nov. 19, 2011) Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
The game was so dramatic that in Robbie Healy's mind, it actually had two endings.
East Meadow's Healy celebrated in the end zone as if the Jets had clinched a victory over two-time defending Nassau I and Long Island Class I champion Freeport Saturday after he and Marvin Cajoles combined to bat away a fourth-down pass from Isaiah Barnes intended for Evan Lapice.
"Then I looked up at the clock and realized we needed one more first down," Healy said of his defensive stop with 2:17 remaining.
So the Jets, on third down from their own 8, got the game-clinching first down on a 16-yard pass from Dylan Curry to Billy Koebel, Koebel's first catch of the season. Two kneel-downs later and East Meadow had stunned Freeport, 34-33, in the Nassau I final at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium.
"A classic. An absolute classic," East Meadow coach Vinny Mascia said. His Jets (10-1) will face the winner of Sunday's Sachem North-Floyd game for the LI Championship next weekend at Stony Brook. Freeport finished 9-2.
The Jets scored what proved to be the winning touchdown on a 5-yard run by James D'Elia on a double-reverse with 4:23 left. D'Elia took a handoff from Healy, who had taken a handoff from quarterback Dylan Curry. "They bit and my [teammates'] blocking was great," said D'Elia, who scored on the same play call from the same spot a few moments earlier, only to have the score nullified by a holding penalty.
It's no surprise that Freeport followed Healy. The wingback has been the focal point of East Meadow's offense all season and he scored three touchdowns Saturday for a season total of 36. That broke the Nassau record of 35 set by Freeport's Kevin Allen in 2009.
Two of Healy's scores were on long passes from Curry, on plays covering 63 and 53 yards. "They were cheating," Mascia said of Freeport's tact of loading the box. "They had 11 guys within 5 yards of the ball. We had to take a shot deep. Robbie was a receiver last year but we don't throw enough and we had to get him the ball. So we made him the wingback."
Healy's 53-yard TD with 13 seconds left in the third quarter broke the record and put the Jets ahead 28-27. But the Red Devils regained the lead 33-28 when Barnes hit Leondre Simmon (five catches, 119 yards) on a 23-yard TD pass 37 seconds into the fourth quarter. Barnes was 15-for-26 for 320 yards and four TD passes.
But Cajoles' 42-yard kickoff return to the Freeport 42 landed the Jets in good field position. It took 13 plays and 7:13 to grind out that final 42 yards. And it took a gutsy defensive stand in the red zone to win the school's first county title since 2006.
Freeport drove from its own 30 to the East Meadow 4, with Barnes hitting Jere Brown (five catches, 100 yards) on third-and-20 to keep the drive alive. Shuart Stadium was rocking when Barnes lined up at the 4. Billy Andrle broke through for a 5-yard sack on first down.
Barnes overthrew Simmon twice and Healy and Cajoles combined to make sure Lapice didn't break the Jets' hearts on fourth down from the 9. "On film, I saw they like to run a double slant down there," Healy said. "I dropped back and we had great coverage."
It was a great ending, too.
