Thursday, October 1, 2026
It was a tale of two halves when Nassau Conference III football championship contenders Wantagh and Plainedge squared off to kick off the season Thursday night in North Massapequa.
Plainedge limited Wantagh star junior running back Luke Martini, the reigning Thorp Award winner, to just three yards on four carries in the first half while taking a 19-point lead into halftime. Wantagh lipped the script in the game’s final 24 minutes though with Martini rushing for 110 yards in a dominating second half where the Warriors scored 29 unanswered points en route to a come-from-behind 36-33 road win.
“I loved the way we reacted to adversity as we pulled together not apart and we trusted each other,” longtime Wantagh head coach Keith Sachs said. “It wasn't yelling and screaming and it was more about fixing what we did wrong and challenging them to play for each other.”
The Wantagh rally was capped when Martini shined on defense with a 32-yard interception return with 8:02 left in the game. The Warriors then added a crucial late insurance score on a 22-yard touchdown run from senior running back Ryan Rice with 2:42 remaining that made it 36-26.
Plainedge ended its long scoring drought late when junior quarterback Aidan Ryan tossed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Marx with 58 seconds remaining. Martini then ended any hope of a late Red Devils comeback when he recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Martini began the comeback with a third seven-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 26-14. The Warriors then edged closer on a 7-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Max Avena to
Luke Rubbo to make it 26-21 early in the fourth quarter after Martini hauled in a clutch 35-yard reception on a 3rd-and-21 to keep the drive alive.
“He's a real complete player,” Sachs said of Martini. “He put the team on his back.”
The first half was a far different story for Plainedge, who jumped out to an early 13-0 lead on the strength of Ryan throwing a 38-yard touchdown to junior tight end Jimmy Marx followed by a 24-yard touchdown run. Ryan then registered two and one-yard touchdown runs in the second quarter to give the Red Devils a 26-7 lead going into the locker room.
The versatile Ryan finished with 100 yards rushing on 17 carries while also completing 10-of-15 passes for 167 yards.
“He is incredibly athletic and puts a lot of time into it,” first-year Plainedge head coach Adam Hovorka said. “For his first varsity start against a championship level team who plays a unique kind of defense he did a really good job.”
Plainedge, which entered the season as the No. 2 seed in Conference III, returns home Friday night to face Division at 6:30 p.m. Wantagh, the preseason third-ranked team, hosts Sewanhaka Friday under the lights at 7 p.m.
Hovorka, who was defensive coordinator at Plainedge the last nine seasons, said he hopes the opener played before a packed home crowd serves as a learning experience for the rest of the season.
“We liked our effort and we liked a lot of the things we did on both sides of the ball especially in that first half,” Hovorka said. “It was a championship level atmosphere.”
