Wantagh ends South Side's big season

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A monster Saturday night from Tom von Bargen put Wantagh in the county finals for a fourth straight year.

Von Bargen recorded three touchdowns through the ground, air and special teams to pace fourth-seeded Wantagh to a 34-7 win against South Side in the Conference III semifinals at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. The junior running back finished with 285 all purpose yards and helped the Warriors seize control in the third quarter after the score was tied 7-7 at halftime.

“Every time he touched the ball he did something,” said Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs of the versatile 5-9 155-pound von Bargen, whose historic performance was capped by a 35-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter “He’s electric.”

Wantagh, which returned only two starters this season, will next try and achieve its second county title in three years in the Conference III title game against top-seeded Plainedge with a 4 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Hofstra. Sixth-seeded South Side, which was playing at Hofstra for first time since capturing a county crown in 2001, saw its successful season end at 7-3.

“It’s big to get back to Hofstra and hopefully we can build off of that,” said South Side head coach Phil Onesto, who was a wide receiver on the Cyclones’ last county championship team from 17 years ago. “We had guys from the 2001 team talk to the team about how special it is to play at Hofstra.”

Von Bargen set the tone for Wantagh’s dominating second half with a 40-yard kickoff return to begin the third quarter. Two players later he found tight end Kyle Graham on a 32-yard halfback pass which set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Nick Teresky that gave Wantagh the lead for good at 14-7.

Wantagh expanded the lead to 20-7 on a 75-yard counter run from Graham on the Warriors’ next offensive possession. Von Bargen later cemented Wantagh’s firm control on the game with a 66-yard punt return touchdown late in the third quarter.

“We made some big plays in the third quarter,” Sachs said. “We got our top guys in space.”

South Side grabbed a 7-0 lead midway though the second quarter with a seven-play 80-yard drive in the second quarter capped by an 11-yard touchdown reception by Nick LiCalzi from quarterback William Pickett. The Cyclones suffered a blow late in the second quarter however when an ankle injury removed LiCalzi from the game shortly after Wantagh had tied the score at 7-7 on a 61-yard touchdown run by von Bargen.

“Wantagh is a very, very tough team,” Onesto said. “We just ran out of gas at the end.”

The Cyclones reached the semifinal stage with Wantagh with a 20-14 overtime win at third-seeded Roosevelt on Nov. 3 capped by a Pickett one-yard touchdown run in the extra session to compete a 214-yard day. Junior Richie Petrone clinched the upset victory with a fourth down tackle in overtime just short of a Roosevelt first down.

“Going into the year after graduating a big senior class we knew it was going to be a rebuilding year, but it turned into a reloading year,” Onesto said. “A lot of guys stepped up.”

Wantagh (7-3) will look to capture a county title against unbeaten Plainedge, which defeated the Warriors 28-21 on Sept. 29.

Sachs said the Warriors played their most complete of the season in a 31-7 first round playoff win against Bethpage and made strides throughout the fall to set up another chance at holding that championship trophy.

“We stuck together and found a new way to win Saturday through the big play,” Sachs said. “It’s a credit to these guys and their commitment that we have gotten this far again.”