Carey bounces back from loss

Seahawks beat Elmont on new turf field

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A week after having its Long Island-best 25-game winning streak snapped, Carey’s football team returned to the win column in style last Saturday by defeating Conference II rival Elmont, 41-14, in the first game on its newly installed field.

Senior quarterback Mike Catanese scored the first touchdown on the new turf, a 2-yard run in the opening quarter, and tossed a pair of scoring strikes, and senior Angelo Cona added three touchdowns to lead a fired-up Seahawks’ offense that was held to seven points by Garden City a week earlier. Junior quarterback Aaron Ruthman threw multiple touchdown passes for a third consecutive game for Elmont. Both teams take a 2-1 record into October.

“It was an awesome atmosphere,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “I’m happy with the way we played. We made some changes from last week that turned out pretty good.

“We might look a little different each week,” he added. “Elmont has a lot of weapons and we did a nice job controlling the clock and keeping them off the field in the first half.”

The Spartans, who totaled 82 points in victories over Calhoun and Sewanhaka on their own new turf field, trailed Carey 20-0 at halftime before making some noise offensively in the second half. “We battled until the end but couldn’t overcome four bad turnovers,” Elmont head coach Jay Hegi said. “If we play a clean game, maybe we take it down to the wire.”

Cona, who rushed for 110 yards on 12 carries, scored twice in the second quarter. His first touchdown came on an 18-yard pass from Catanese, and the second was a short burst behind senior All-County lineman Anthony Catapano. “He runs hard,” Stanley said of Cona, who also found the end zone against Garden City. 

The visitors got on the board in the third quarter when Ruthman (seven touchdown passes in 2015) hooked up with senior Princeton Gahagan for a 33-yard score as well as the 2-point conversion to make it 20-8. It stayed that way until early in the fourth when senior Jake Safuto caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Catanese, who finished 13 of 19 for 158 yards, and Tyler DeMeo added one of his five extra points for a 27-8 advantage.

“We took steps in the right direction,” Stanley said. 

Safuto’s touchdown was the first of four in the final quarter. Elmont senior Aston Brown Jr., who had a remarkable start to the season with five touchdowns — two rushing, two receiving and one interception return — against Calhoun, caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Ruthman to cut the margin to 27-14. But Carey would ice the victory with two more scores, including a thrilling 105-yard interception return touchdown by senior Kevin Meaney.

“We made some mental mistakes we didn’t make in the first two weeks,” Hegi said. “We wanted to be 2-1 after three weeks, so we’re OK.”

Elmont returns home to face Kennedy this Saturday, while Carey hosts Wantagh. Kickoff for both games is 3 p.m.