Wantagh football rolls to Nassau Conference IV championship game with dominant win over Cold Spring Harbor

It was the first night of November and Wantagh was clinging to a one-point edge at Cold Spring Harbor in the final minute before taking the regular-season finale by seven.

The rematch Thursday night? Well, it was basically over a whole lot earlier.

Third-seeded Wantagh built a 20-point lead after one quarter and a 41-point lead by halftime on the way to a 55-6 victory over the No. 2 Seahawks in a Nassau Conference IV semifinal at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.

Dylan Martini posted 264 yards of total offense on 15 touches, with two rushing touchdowns and one TD reception, and Ryan Conigliaro threw for three scores and ran for two.

So Wantagh (9-1) will play for the championship at 4 p.m. on Nov. 22 at Shuart against the winner of Thursday night’s other semi between top-seeded Plainedge and No. 5 Seaford.

“I’ve always had all the confidence in my boys,” Martini said. “These guys are family. They’ve been working their tails off since we lost last year [in the Nassau III semis]. We haven’t forgotten that. We have something hanging up to remind us. We’ve been working our tails off to get back to this moment.”

Cold Spring Harbor coach Jon Mendreski said he was surprised it was a different game from two weeks ago when Wantagh won 20-13.

“I was surprised, too, especially offensively,” Wantagh coach Keith Sachs said. “I knew our defense was going to hold them down. … We made a few adjustments.”

But why was it so different this time?

“That’s a great question; I don’t know, to be honest with you,” Mendreski said after his Seahawks (8-2) failed to score until Alex Bauer’s 82-yard run cut it to 48-6 in the fourth. “We seemed a little flat. We didn’t tackle. We couldn’t get anything going on offense, and they had everything going.”

Wantagh’s first possession lasted six plays and went 76 yards. Martini carried it in from the 1.

After a missed extra point, the Seahawks went three-and-out. Thanks to a 26-yard punt, Wantagh began at Cold Spring Harbor’s 43. Conigliaro connected with Oliver Iacobazzi for a 40-yard TD.

Conigliaro later found Iacobazzi in the left side of the end zone from 6 yards out, then hit Joe Nicholson for the two-point conversion — 20-0.

Early in the second quarter, Conigliaro threw short on the left side to Martini. The senior turned it into a 74-yard TD reception.

Then Martini burst through the middle for a 55-yard score — 34-0. And with 28.9 seconds left until halftime, Conigliaro weaved through the middle for an 8-yard TD run.

It was 41-0, triggering a running clock that lasted the rest of the way.

As Martini put it, “I think we played a full game today for the first time this year.”