Carey beats Elmont in semifinal

After allowing 48 points and six touchdown passes to Elmont in a Week 2 regular-season defeat, Carey gave the Spartans a dose of their own medicine in last Saturday’s Nassau Conference II semifinal playoff matchup at Hofstra.

Following a handful of foiled attempts to go deep in the first half, Carey senior quarterback Dan Conte and senior receiver Tyler DeMeo hooked up for a 73-yard touchdown in the third quarter and a 35-yard insurance touchdown in the fourth to lead the second-seeded Seahawks to a 33-24 victory and a spot in this Saturday’s championship game against unbeaten Garden City at 12:30 p.m.

“Tyler’s such a tough player to defend in single coverage,” said Conte, who opened the scoring with a touchdown pass to senior Zach Dente and added a pair of scoring runs. “He’s got speed and great hands. I just had to make sure I put the ball in a good spot so he could just do his thing.”

Senior Shaheim Taylor-White rushed for 119 yards and Conte added 99 on the ground as Carey (8-2) enjoyed more than 29 minutes of possession on the way to avenging a 14-point loss to the Spartans on Sept. 17. It was the second postseason clash between the district rivals in three years.

“We had a great week of practice, and the kids communicated well and played with a lot of guts,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “The defense did an unbelievable job. We knew we had to be better against the pass, and the kids really executed.”

DeMeo, whose extra point following his long touchdown grab gave the Seahawks a 19-18 lead with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter, said that shutting out Kennedy, 43-0, in the playoff opener a week earlier provided a fragile defense with a jolt of confidence. “We’ve improved defensively,” DeMeo said. “We watched a lot of film every week and corrected our mistakes. To open the playoffs with a shutout was big.”

Junior Chester Anderson caught three touchdown passes from senior signal-caller Aaron Ruthman, who went 24 of 40 for 302 yards with two interceptions for No. 3 Elmont (7-3), which advanced to the semis with a first-round win over Mepham.

“We had a good year, but we made too many mistakes today, and they’re more physical than us on the lines,” Elmont head coach Jay Hegi said. “I thought the momentum turned after we took an 18-12 lead. We dropped the two-point conversion pass and they hit the long TD on the next play.” 

The Spartans led 12-6 at halftime, but Carey found the end zone on each of its first four possessions in the second half, including a game-tying 1-yard touchdown run by Taylor-White on the opening drive of the third quarter. Seniors Dom Scorcia and Antonio Roselli had second-half interceptions that led to key scores for the Seahawks, who led 33-18 after DeMeo’s 35-yard touchdown catch with 10:23 remaining.

“We got a big push up front,” said Conte, referring to the efforts of linemen Dylan Nagy, Joe Randazzo, Mike Worsley, Matt Langstrand and Frank Porcasi. “We probably have one of the best O-lines in the county. They work hard and work together.”