Carey stifles Garden City

Carey established itself as the team to beat in Nassau Conference II football last Saturday with a convincing 28-0 victory at defending champion Garden City.

Senior quarterback Ray Catapano completed 14 of 19 passes for 268 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair to senior Andrew Ris, and the Seahawks (4-0) had another stellar defensive effort on the way to handing the Trojans (3-1) their worst home loss since 1980.

“Our defensive front seven did a great job, and we scored on two long drives and two big plays,” Carey head coach Mike Stanley said.

Joe Lucito (eight tackles), Conor Colasurdo (seven tackles, one sack) and Tom Gallant (five tackles) led Carey’s defense, which based its game plan around Garden City standout quarterback Brett Stewart. “We know he can do damage,” Stanley said of Stewart, who guided the Trojans to Nassau and Long Island titles in 2012. “We tried to mix our pressures up and make him uncomfortable,” he added. “Threat No. 1 was him with the ball in his hands as a runner, and we were able to bottle him up.”

The Seahawks got on the board on their third possession, going 74 yards on six plays to take a 7-0 lead. Ris scored on a 12-yard touchdown reception set up by Catapano’s 31-yard completion to Dylan DeMeo.

Matt Robison scored on a 63-yard screen pass in the second quarter to make it 14-0, and Ris caught a 4-yard slant for a touchdown with 1:30 remaining in the opening half to stretch the advantage to 21-0. A fly pattern for Nick Spillane resulted in a 54-yard touchdown in the third quarter to ice the victory. DeMeo went 4-for-4 on extra-point attempts.

“It was the first game we made every conversion, so that felt pretty good,” Stanley said.

Carey’s first unit on defense has yet to allow a score this season. All told, the team outscored its first four opponents by a combined 153-13.

Next up for Carey is a trip to Elmont this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. It’s homecoming day for the Spartans, who stand at 3-1 after beating Mepham last week. “We know they’re going to be fired up,” Stanley said.