Sunday, January 12, 2025
Clinging to a two-point lead with just over three minutes remaining in Saturday’s Long Island Class I football championship game, Massapequa head coach Kevin Shippos didn’t need to dive deep into the playbook to close out a classic battle against William Floyd.
“When you’ve got Tyler Villalta, a senior who’s been doing this for three years, you put the ball in his hands and if we’re going down it’s going to be with him carrying the ball,” Shippos said.
Villalta took five consecutive handoffs from senior quarterback Joey Diesso and two resulted in first downs, allowing the Chiefs to run out the clock and secure their third L.I. title in four years with a 42-40 victory before a crowd of 3,000 at Stony Brook University.
“We fought through adversity a lot, especially these last three weeks against three incredible opponents,” Shippos said.
Villalta was simply dominant behind the blocking of linemen Tristan Tarasi, Alex Van Schuyler, A.J. Molenko, Thomas Biggin, Connor Pineda and Nolan Wieczorek, racking up 243 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 39 carries. He lost a fumble early in the fourth quarter that led to a Colonials’ touchdown but responded with one of his own on the ensuing possession.
“That’s the first time Tyler ever fumbled in his life and he was able to put it behind him and help us win,” said Diesso, who a week earlier caught a two-point conversion pass from Villalta to give Massapequa a 35-34 overtime win over Farmingdale for the Nassau Conference I championship. “We have 15 seniors and for most of us this was the last time we’d play football,” he added. “We didn’t want this to end any other way.”
Ja’Quan Thomas rushed for 172 yards and three touchdowns, and Joshua Jordan had 172 yards receiving and a pair of scoring receptions from quarterback AJ Cannet for Floyd, which defeated Ward Melville for the Suffolk Division I crown and finished 10-2.
Massapequa’s win also completed a Nassau sweep of the four LIC games for the second time in four years. The Chiefs (11-1) joined Wantagh, Carey and Garden City in hoisting a trophy.
“Winning three LIC’s in four years is hard to do but it’s a testament to these kids, the coaching staff and the support from the community,” Shippos said.
The first half was nothing short of a track meet. Massapequa led 21-14 after the opening quarter, thanks to a pick-6 from Tarasi and two short touchdown runs by Villalta that offset 31- and 73-yard touchdown receptions by Jordan.
Diesso had a 17-yard touchdown run with 2:01 remaining before halftime to make it 27-14, but Floyd scored twice in a span of 95 seconds. Geo Alvarez had an 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a defensive takeaway led to Thomas’ 3-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left in the second quarter.
So the Chiefs, set to receive the second-half kickoff, were primed to take a 27-26 lead into the locker room when lightning struck in the form of a 49-yard Hail Mary touchdown catch by junior Cole Villalta as time expired. After Tyler Villalta’s two-point conversion run, it was 35-26.
“That’s a play we practice every week, it’s called “Rip-60 make a play.” Shippos said of Diesso’s heave. “You just throw it down the field and see what happens. This one found its way into Cole’s hands and gave us a two-possession lead.”
After a scoreless third quarter, Thomas struck again with 9:31 remaining in the fourth and it was 35-32. Tyler Villalta (4:51) and Thomas (3:24) traded touchdowns, and the former had no plans to give Floyd another possession.
“I knew nothing was going to stop me from getting those last two first downs,” Villalta said. “Tons of respect to our linemen. They gave me space to run through and we got it done. It’s awesome.”
