Mepham Football Wins Big Over Great Neck South

After last week's tough loss to the undefeated Carey Seahawks, the Mepham Pirates went into Saturday's game against the Great Neck South Rebels looking for big win that would give them a ton of momentum heading into the playoffs - things couldn't have gone better for the Pirates this week as they handed Great Neck South its seventh loss off the season, defeating them by a score of 34-14.

The win gave Mepham a 6-2 record in Conference II  and dropped Great Neck South to 1-7.

Mepham running back Kevin Tauriello did it on the ground for the Pirates as he finished the game with 126 yards on 19 carries including the first touchdown of the game.

"We had some pretty big holes," said Tauriello about his big day on the field. "Our offensive line did pretty good. I was just using our power and blocking and was able to break a few tackles."

Tauriello provided a solid ground game and was the workhorse for the Pirates on Saturday. They turned to him early in the game to lead them down the field and he did just that.

Tauriello's tough interior running also led to big results through the air. Quarterback Nick White had a good day as he tossed three touchdown passes, two of which were caught by J.T. Castaldo. Castaldo caught a nicely thrown ball by White for a 18-yard touchdown for the Pirates in the first quarter to give them a 14-0 lead.

Castaldo's second touchdown catch came in the second quarter and gave the Pirates a 21-0 lead going into the half. Castaldo finished the day with three receptions for 35 yards along and two touchdowns. He also had an interception return for a touchdown midway through the third quarter to put Mepham up 34-0.

White connected on a pass to Nick Deteronova for his final touchdown of the day in the third quarter. White went 4-for-6 for 75 yards through the air to go with his three touchdowns.

White said his receivers route run along with strong coaching allowed him to create the big plays for the Pirates.

"I think we played very well today," he said. "My receivers were pretty much open down field and they did a good job letting me know they were there. Coach Cracco helped me out a lot in practice with my reads down field and we put it all together today."

Overall, the Pirates played a well-rounded game and prepared themselves for their playoff game coming up. Mepham head coach Anthony Cracco was happy with his team's effort.

"We protected the ball well and ran hard offensively," he said. "Our offensive line did exceptionally well at opening up holes. We wanted to use this game to clean things up after a tough loss last week. We executed well and we'll take what we did today and apply it to our game plan in the postseason."

The No. 5 Pirates will take on the No. 4 Elmont Spartans in the first round. The game is tentatively scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. at Elmont High School.