Garden City football beats Bethpage for Long Island-record 43rd consecutive win
The history of Long Island high school football dates to the 1880s.
It would be difficult to find a program that has penned as much of it as Garden City.
In their season opener Friday night at Bethpage and their first Nassau Conference III game since 1999, the Trojans coasted to a Long Island-record 43rd consecutive win, 42-0. Garden City already had matched the record of 42 straight wins established by Floyd (2005-08) and tied by the 2016-19 Trojans.
“It’s pretty special,” said Garden City coach Dave Ettinger, whose teams have won 89 of the past 91 games. “We never spoke about the streak or anything about that for 42 straight games, but I did speak about it in camp this year and the importance of making history in a historic program, which is always difficult to do.
“Garden City has a very rich history of football, and to be able to do something that no other team in Long Island has done is pretty special.”
The Garden City seniors, including Thorp Award winner Michael Berkery and star linebacker Blake Cascadden, have never experienced a varsity loss.
“It’s crazy to a lot of people, but for us, we work so hard and we do what we need to do and our coaches are so great that — not [that] winning is just another thing to us — but if we win, we know that we deserve it,” Cascadden said.
Berkery said: “Hopefully this is not the best accomplishment. We can do something greater than this. But we’re gonna take it one week at a time and never take anyone lightly.”
Garden City has not been beaten since Nov. 30, 2019, a 14-13 loss to Lindenhurst in the Long Island Class II championship game. The first of the 43 wins — and counting — was a 34-0 triumph at Carey on March 13, 2021.
The numbers from Garden City’s winning streak are astonishing. The Trojans have won the 43 games by an average margin of 33.3 points, scoring 38.6 points and allowing 5.3 per game. They have pitched shutouts in 20 of the 43 games (46.5%).
Ettinger, in his 10th year at Garden City, improved his career record to 98-3. His .970 winning percentage is the highest in New York history of any varsity football coach who has coached at least 100 games.
In the new-look Nassau III, all eyes are on Garden City. The Trojans have won a Long Island-record eight consecutive county titles. They have won three straight Long Island Class II titles and six of the last seven. Bethpage, Division and Lynbrook are the only other schools in the 13-team Nassau III that have won an Island title.
The Trojans began Friday with a bang. Ryan Campbell blocked a punt after Bethpage started with the ball, and Declan Wuchte’s 1-yard touchdown run made it 7-0 halfway through the first quarter.
Berkery added a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 2:51 left in the first quarter. Trojans quarterback Brayden Robertiello delivered two second-quarter touchdown passes — a 13-yarder to Berkery and a 59-yarder to Owen Wuchte — and Anthony Asaro ran for a 5-yard score to make it 35-0 by halftime.
The second half was played with a running clock.
With the record in hand, what’s next for Garden City? Business as usual.
“We’re gonna celebrate it for what it’s worth,” Cascadden said. “But I think sooner or later, we’re gonna lock in, focus more on this season than just a streak.”
With Andy Slawson
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
