Sachem East Shutout by Commack

Starting 0-5  for the first season ever, Sachem East football endured another home-field heartbreaker facing down the Commack Cougars Friday night, who were rebounding from last week's 36-14 loss to Brentwood but got the hunger back on East's turf, arriving with a relentless, rapid-fire ground game for a 28-0 shutout victory. 

"We wanted to stay on the ground," said Commack head coach Joe Reggio, adding that the game presented few challenges except for some minor, self-inflicted injuries during routine play. "We wanted to mix it up and keep them a little off-balance."

After the touchback following East's kickoff, Commack starting quarterback Tyler Smith and running back John Donovan got to work immediately on handoffs to put the Cougars at East's 40 in two plays.

Joe Delguardo caught a short 4-yarder, and  Donovan carrying another 32 yards to set up Mark Recio for a 4-yard scoring scramble less than two minutes in, topped off with Josh Bacon's kick for the conversion.  Donovan also added a 12-yard touchdown run of his own on a second-and-seven play in the second quarter, with another Bacon kick at 5:18 left.

After a three-and-out by East, Commack was at it again less than another two minutes later: Driving to East's 36 on the backs of Danny Brown's kickoff return and Cody Olson's 5-yard carry on the second down, Smith dropped back to launch a textbook-perfect high spiral 36 yards toward the end zone, finding Paul Maline for the touchdown reception with 8:07 to go.

East's Billy Merone (20-yard kickoff return) and Steven Casali (23 yards in three plays) had some success pushing back offensively on the next series, but after Matthew Berlingieri secured the first down on a handoff from East quarterback Kyle Starke, an interception by Commack quickly reversed the tide.

Punching back to East's 31 before a third-down fumble recovery by East, the ball was spotted at the 16. The seesaw back down the field put Merone (18 yards in four plays) and Casali (11 yards, two plays) back to work before the first-quarter buzzer.

An injury sustained by East lineman Vincent Nuccio forced him to leave the field late in the fourth quarter. No further details on him or his injury were available at the time of publication.

Sachem Patch will update this story with more quotes and information Saturday.