East Meadow at .500 after close loss

East Meadow failed to come away with a win at Farmingdale last Friday night, falling 28-21 to the defending Nassau Conference I football champions, but the injury plagued Jets took plenty of positives from a game they led in the fourth quarter.

The Dalers stayed undefeated thanks to senior Jordan McLune’s 4-yard touchdown run with a little more than two minutes remaining in regulation. McLune (223 total yards) accounted for all 73 yards on the winning drive, including a 53-yard reception. The hosts trailed 21-14 after three quarters and tied it on senior Corey Hill’s 8-yard touchdown run early in the fourth.

“The kids are disappointed, but we know we can play with anyone and we haven’t had a whole team yet,” head coach Vin Mascia said after East Meadow slipped to 3-3. “We had a lot of kids playing both sides of the ball — they didn’t — and went punch for punch.”

Senior quarterback Anthony LaRosa was tremendous in defeat for the Jets, who had senior Kyle Bender (thumb surgery) dress for the first time this season but were still without two other two-way starters. LaRosa (132 yards on 21 carries, 6 of 9 passing for 76 yards) had a hand in all three East Meadow touchdowns, rushing for a pair and connecting with senior Patrick Carlin on a 26-yard passing score.

“We couldn’t have asked for more from him,” Mascia said of LaRosa, who two weeks earlier rallied the Jets to a victory over Oceanside. “He’s the biggest reason why we’ve been close in all these games despite the injuries.” 

Mascia is hopeful when East Meadow hosts Baldwin this Saturday in a 2 p.m. kickoff, the Jets won’t have any players watching from the sideline in blue jeans and a jersey top. Among the injured or previously hurt are/were senior rushing leaders Justin Reyes (broken hand) and Joe Matchekosky (shoulder), and two-way senior lineman Robert Moresky (concussion.)

“We’ve been so fortunate avoiding injuries in recent years,” Mascia said. “I guess it caught up to us. We’re keeping our fingers crossed everyone will be back for Baldwin. They’ve got some special kids that can run the ball.”

East Meadow lit up the scoreboard in Week 4, scoring two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters on the way to a 56-21 win at Uniondale. Matchekosky, who was banged up in the opener, had three touchdown runs along with DeRosa, who had over 200 yards on the ground. Seniors Paul Imperiale (nine tackles, one sack) and JR Howell (interception) led the defense.

Howell also made a key defensive play to seal the Jets’ 24-20 win over Oceanside on Oct. 1, stopping the Sailors short of a first down on their final possession. Junior Mike Dolley’s second touchdown of the game, from a yard out, won it with 58 seconds to go. A long reception by Carlin set it up.

“That game was a tale of two halves,” Mascia said. “We were down 10 but tightened up the pass coverage and cut down the mistakes.”