Oceanside unable to stop Farmingdale

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Not unexpectedly, Jordan McLune has picked up where he left off last season when he led Farmingdale to the Nassau Conference I football championship.

Last Friday night, in a rematch of last year’s county title game, McLune erupted for 173 yards and four touchdowns to lead the top-ranked Dalers to a 42-7 victory at Oceanside in front of an ambitious jam-packed crowd. The last of the senior running back’s scores was a dazzling 22-yarder up the middle that saw him spin off and shed a handful of defenders.

“I’m trying to score every time I touch the ball, just trying to make something happen,” McLune said.

Farmingdale’s defense had a big part in the win with four interceptions, including three in the first half when it built an insurmountable 35-0 lead. The Sailors (1-1) avoided a shutuout early in the fourth quarter on sophomore Jake Lazzaro’s 43-yard touchdown reception from junior quarterback Tommy Heuer.

“There’s a reason why he’s the best back in the county,” Oceanside head coach Rob Blount said of McLune, who had three touchdowns in Farmingdale’s 34-23 win last Nov. 21 at Hofstra in what was the Sailors’ first title game appearance since 1977. “We had a bad tackling performance and we didn’t control the line of scrimmage on either side,” Blount added. 

The hosts were stunned in the opening quarter after two promising drives stalled inside Farmingdale territory and ultimately led to touchdowns at the other end and a 14-0 deficit.

Junior Derek Cruz, who is expected to miss the next four weeks with a collarbone injury, ran 22 yards on a fake punt to keep the game-opening drive alive, but the Sailors eventually turned the ball over on downs following a dropped pass inside the 10. The Dalers then marched 80 yards on seven plays and took the lead on McLune’s 34-yard touchdown run. His second score, from 17 yards out set up by his own 53-yard scamper, came after a controversial interception by Darrin Simons.

A special teams miscue by Oceanside led to Farmingdale’s third touchdown, a 3-yard run by McLune just a minute into the second quarter. Kevin Eversley’s 72-yard touchdown run with 4:11 remaining in the half made it 28-0, and McLune was in the end zone 90 seconds later after Michael Manetta’s interception.

“We were a little shell-shocked at halftime,” Blount said. “The silver lining is there was no championship trophy awarded tonight. It’s only the second game of the season.”

Farmingdale, which blanked Baldwin, 33-0, to open the season, rushed for more than 300 yards. Junior Dylan Judd, who along with his brother Tyler, a senior, scored a defensive touchdown in a 24-0 season-opening victory over Hicksville on Sept. 10, led Oceanside’s offense with 160 total yards.

The Sailors will try to get back in the win column this Friday night when they host Uniondale in another rematch from last year’s playoffs. Kickoff is 6 p.m. “It’s important for us to bounce back,” Blount said.