Seaford returns to championship glory

Seaford quarterback Andrew Cain entered last Saturday’s Nassau Conference IV football title game determined to avoid a repeat of last year’s disappointing loss on the finals stage to Locust Valley.

Cain and his teammates this time rejoiced on the turf at Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium after a dominant 20-0 win over Carle Place/Wheatley capped Seaford’s first county championship since 2010. The Vikings will now vie for a Long Island title against Suffolk Division IV champion Shoreham-Wading River this Sunday at 4 p.m. at Stony Brook’s LaValle Stadium.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Cain, who has shined during his senior year as a two-way player at quarterback and middle linebacker. “I love playing for my brothers.”  

Cain was in the middle of a Seaford defense that limited Carle Place/Wheatley to only three first downs and 64 total yards. On offense, he handed off 40 times to standout senior running back Danny Roell, who gained 193 yards and two touchdowns. Roell’s second score from four yards out with 3:37 left in the game capped a 16-play, 8:48 drive that iced the program’s first title in six years.

“Every since we lost to Locust Valley in the finals last year … I never wanted to have that feeling again,” Roell said. “Me and the other captains and the whole team come together every week and always talk that and how it is not going to happen to us again.”

Roell opened the scoring with a 23-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the game for a 7-0 lead. A one-yard plunge from junior fullback Nick Calandra extended the Seaford advantage to 13-0 late in the second quarter in a drive that ate up six minutes of the clock. The Vikings dominated time of possession controlling the ball for 32 of 48 minutes, including the entire fourth quarter.

“It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work,” said Seaford head coach Rob Perpall, who has led the Vikings to seven county titles since taking over the program in 1995 including four in a row from 2007-10.  “The most important awards are the ones you earn on the field,” he added.

Seaford defeated Carle Place/Wheatley, 28-14, in the regular-season meeting on Oct. 14. On the championship stage, the Vikings’ defense held the Wild Frogs’ triple option offense in check. Calandra, Chris Higgins and Kevin Murphy all recorded 4.5 tackles to lead the effort.

Unbeaten Seaford (11-0) will look to continue its historic season with the program’s first Long Island title since 2009 against two-time defending L.I. Class IV champion Shoreham-Wadding.

The last time Seaford reached the Long Island finals, Calandra was a 10-year-old boy sitting in the stands behind Shuart Stadium’s north end zone, watching the Vikings rejoice after a county title win against Roosevelt. Now Calandra gets to experience his own victory. “We all sat up in those bleachers watching the last county championship and now for us to win it, it’s the best feeling I have ever had,” he said. “The feeling is insane.”