Wantagh edges Sewanhaka

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The weather was far from ideal, but freezing temperatures and gusty winds did not faze the Wantagh football team during its Conference II quarterfinal playoff game against Sewanhaka last Friday afternoon.

Paced by three touchdowns from junior running back Dylan Beckwith and a late interception by Corey Sachs, the fourth-seeded Warriors advanced to the county semifinals with a 30-21 win over the Indians. Wantagh (6-3) will now vie for a berth in the Conference II finals when it faces second-seeded Garden City this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Hofstra.

With Wantagh clinging to a 23-21 lead late in the game, Beckwith gave the Warriors some huge insurance by catching a 20-yard touchdown pass from Robert Tucker with 3:06 remaining. Then with Sewanhaka driving trying to cut into a 30-21 deficit, Sachs put the game on ice with an interception at the five-yard line that he ran back across midfield.

“They have gotten better each week,” Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said of his young team, which lost 29 seniors from last year and now has won four in a row since a 35-13 loss to Mepham on Oct. 11 dropped them to 2-3. “Getting to Hofstra is a program goal and they earned it.”

Sewanhaka, which moved up from Conference III this year, hung tough with Wantagh despite falling behind 13-0 on two first-half touchdown runs by Beckwith. Sophomore running back Shaheim Taylor-White reached the end zone on a 5-yard run midway through the second quarter to cut the Wantagh lead to 13-7. Following a 28-yard field goal by Wantagh’s Chris Taibi, senior back Brenton Mighty rushed for a 17-yard touchdown that made it a 16-13 Warrior lead at halftime.

A Sachs 24-yard touchdown reception with 4:51 left in the third quarter answered the Sewanhaka momentum before the Indians struck back to get within two nearly four minutes later on a Taylor-White one yard touchdown plunge followed by a two-point conversion run by junior quarterback Elijah Tracey that made it 23-21. 

“They did a wonderful job all season,” Sewanhaka head coach George Kasimatis said moments after his team’s season ended at 5-4. “We’re encouraged about our future.”

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