Malverne nipped by North Shore

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Football can be a game of inches and such was the case last Friday night when Malverne missed a couple of second-half field goals and a late two-point conversion attempt in a hard-fought 21-20 loss to visiting North Shore.

The Mules scored with 1:37 remaining to get within one, but the Vikings’ defense made a stop just short of the end zone on the conversion run and ate up the clock on the ensuing possession. Quarterback Ryan Aughavin had one rushing touchdown and one passing score to lead North Shore, which improved to 4-3.

“We went for the win,” Malverne head coach Kito Lockwood said after his team slipped to 5-2. “We ran power off-tackle and came up a couple of inches short. I knew it was going to be a barnburner. It was a nail-biter all the way.

“We’re disappointed, but it was a great game and we’ll take the loss with a grain of salt and move on,” he added. “The kids are working so hard.”

The Mules racked up more than 200 yards on the ground for the third consecutive week, led by seniors Dante Lacroix, Maurice Teachey Jr, and Amare Reyes. “They stacked the box against us and I thought we were very balanced offensively,” Lockwood said. “We passed 20 times and I thought that would open the running lanes.”

Malverne’s quarterback, Lacroix, completed nine passes including a 36-yard scoring strike to sophomore Jovani Duran. It was Lacroix’s sixth passing touchdown of the year to go with four rushing scores. His counterpart, Aughavin, now has 15 passing TDs.

“He turned two broken plays into touchdowns,” Lockwood said of Aughavin. “The first one, we thought we had him stopped in his tracks and he broke away.

“North Shore is talented and well-coached,” he added. “They’ve been putting up 30 and 40 points against everyone else, so there are some positives we can take. We held them to 21, including a scoreless third quarter.”

Losing for a second straight time before a big home crowd isn’t sitting well with Lockwood, however. He’s looking for the Mules to close the regular season in style this Saturday against Friends Academy (2 p.m. kickoff) and head into the playoffs on a positive note along with six wins, which would be the most since 2008 when it reached the semis at Hofstra.  

“If we do what we have to do, we feel we’re capable of getting to the championship game,” Lockwood said. “We can’t look that far right now, but it’s a goal.”

The Mules opened the campaign 3-0, including a signature victory against No. 2 seed Locust Valley, the defending county champions. Malverne then bounced back from a Week 4 loss to Seaford with resounding wins over West Hempstead and Mineola, scoring 37 points in each game.

In addition to the skill position players, Lockwood said Duran is having a huge year at linebacker, and lauded the efforts of two-way linemen Brandon Degand, Andrew Washington and Radae Teachey.