East Meadow overcame a 21-point first-half deficit and a pair of turnovers, but the Jets couldn’t overcome the consistent big plays produced by Massapequa in their Nassau Conference I playoff matchup at Roslyn on Saturday. The fifth-seeded Chiefs (7-3 overall) had three different players score on plays of at least 29 yards, including a late 62-yard touchdown run to by Paul Dilena to knock off No. 4 East Meadow (7-3), 43-29.

“We try to get the ball in our athletes hands as much as possible,” Chiefs head coach Kevin Shippos said.

Leading by seven with just over two minutes remaining and East Meadow angling to force a punt, the Chiefs faced a third-and-11 from their own 38-yard line when Dilena took a Paul Bentz handoff, followed his block into a hole on the right side of the line and didn’t stop until he hit the end zone. “We made too many mistakes to win a game of this caliber,” Jets head coach Vin Mascia said.

The run by Dilena came one possession after Massapequa forged ahead 36-29 midway through the fourth quarter when senior Harry Lowe battled Jets senior Robbie Bergmann for a jumpball in the front of the end zone and pulled down a 29-yard touchdown pass from Bentz. The scoring drive featured a fourth-down conversion for the Chiefs from the Jets 38 and covered 69 yards over nine plays.

CAREY 35, LONG BEACH 13

By Andrew McClure