Wantagh steamrolls through September

The Wantagh football team has shown early on it’ll be a force to be reckoned with in Nassau Conference IV.

The Warriors, who moved to the new league after the past three seasons in Conference III due to declining enrollment, are off to a 3-0 start and have outscored opponents 139 to 0. The September domination to open the season culminated Saturday with a commanding 49-0 home win against Oyster Bay.

“Realistically we thought we'd have a good year, but we're coming together quicker than we thought,” said longtime Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs. “We returned a lot of skill and three linemen so we were pretty happy with what returned and we had other people step up at the holes we had.”

The Oyster Bay win featured three touchdowns from senior running back Dylan Martini, all in the first quarter.

Martini also had a big game in a 41-0 win at Locust Valley on Sept. 20 rushing for 144 yards on just 11 carries to go along with two catches for 75 yards. He had a 42-yard touchdown run and a 65-yard touchdown reception in the first half when Wantagh raced out to a 28-0 halftime lead.

Senior quarterback Ryan Conigliaro completed 7-of-9 passes for 104 yards and three touchdowns. Sachs said having a potent passing game has been a great complement to the rushing attack led by Martini.

“He’s a really smart quarterback and gets the ball to everybody,” Sachs said. “Forcing them to defend more than just Dylan is very important.”

Conigliaro spread the ball out to a number of weapons in the Locusty Valley game including a 22-yard touchdown pass to Oliver Iacobazzi to open the scoring, 11-yard touchdown pass to John Gendels and 14-yard touchdown to Joe Valentino. Iacobazzi also tossed a 75-yard touchdown to Martini on a trick play.

The defense was dominant holding Locust Valley to just one first down. Senior middle linebacker Tommy Wunderlich recorded 13 tackles while Joe Nicholson added five including three for losses.

Sachs said Wunderlich has stepped up big as a first-year starter to add to a veteran

linebacker unit featuring Cole Spinelli, Iacobazzi and Gendels. Reigning-All-Conference lineman Shareef Mcmillian also bolsters the defensive front.

Wantagh opened the season with a 49-0 home win versus Malverne on Sept. 13 where Martini totalled 275 yards all-purpose yards with three touchdowns on just seven touches. The blowout season-opening win also featured touchdowns Gendels, Lacobazzi, Tucker Icabozzi and Evan Lydon.

The Warriors will look to continue their hot start to the season Saturday at East Rockaway for an 11 a.m. kickoff. The schedule then starts to get more challenging with three games against Plainededge, North Shore, Seaford and Cold Spring Harbor to close the season.

Sachs said the there has been a big commitment from the entire program starting in the offseason to position the team for a possible run at a county title.

“At the 6 a,m. workouts in the winter and the summer workouts we would have anywhere from 40 to 80 kids showing up,” Sachs said. “ It's nice to see that the hard work paid off.”