Riley DeMeo didn’t have to wait for Carey’s offense to get back on the field to redeem himself after fumbling a couple of yards shy of scoring a touchdown early in the third quarter of last Saturday’s Nassau Conference II showdown with neighboring rival Elmont.
On the ensuing possession, DeMeo, a senior, blocked a punt and junior James Stein turned it into a 10-yard touchdown to give the host Seahawks an eight-point lead on the way to a 21-19 victory. Stein also had a scoring reception and sophomore Anthony DeNicola added a touchdown run for Carey (2-1), which played its third straight cliffhanger.
“It was hard seeing the ball fumble into the end zone, but our defense came back with a big stop and forced them to punt,” said DeMeo, who had seven receptions for 145 yards, including one for 70 and another for 50. “I had a clear lane to the punter and the ball bounced right to Stein and he ran it in. It was such an adrenaline rush.”
The Spartans (1-2) answered with an 86-yard touchdown run by senior Jaiyetoro Gordon-Young with 59 seconds left in the third, but Carey senior linebacker Devin Hartz (10 tackles) preserved the lead with a sack on the two-point conversion try. Sophomore Joseph Todaro’s interception around midfield with 28 seconds left in the fourth sealed it.
“Tight game after tight game,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “I just told the kids that’s what our conference is going to be like every week. We’ve seen every kind of situation you can ask for so far. We were hungry to get back out there after not being able to put Calhoun away last week and the effort was awesome.”