Carey one win from championship

Another dominant performance has Carey one step from capturing its first Nassau County football title since 1978, and it seems only fitting nemesis Garden City, the four-time defending Conference II champion, stands in the way.

The top-seeded Seahawks (10-0) overpowered No. 5 MacArthur, 48-13, in the semifinals last Friday afternoon at Hofstra behind a ground attack that produced 258 yards and five touchdowns. Matt Robison and Nick Spillane had two touchdowns apiece, while Conor Colasurdo, who had 10 tackles and a sack to lead the defense, rushed for a team-high 80 yards and a score.

“Versatility is the key to our offense,” said Spillane, who scored on a 15-yard run to cap Carey’s opening possession. “We’re tough to defend because we have so many playmakers.”

Quarterback Ray Catapano, who entered the game with an eye-popping touchdown-to-interception ratio of 30-to-0, connected with Andrew Ris on an early fourth-quarter scoring strike after tossing his first two picks of 2013. Catapano went 10 of 16 for 115 yards. Mike Catanese topped the victory with a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown.

“We saw MacArthur in the last week of the regular season and they’re a team that tries to take away the vertical passing game,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said. “Plus when you play at Hofstra in November, you need to be prepared to run the football. The guys up front did an outstanding job.

“I thought we had our best opening drive of the year in terms of how we ran the ball,” he added. “Seven rushes for 80 yards and a score was a great way to start.” 

The Seahawks, who have outscored opponents by a whopping margin of 416-42 and surpassed 40 points in all but one game, will meet No. 2 Garden City in the Conference II final at Hofstra this Friday at 7 p.m. The Trojans (9-1) held off No. 3 Wantagh, 14-12, in the other semifinal. They’ve defeated Carey in the postseason in six of the last eight seasons, including championship games in 2005 and ’10.