Smithtown West Beats East in Football Season Opener, 35-9

Big plays and special teams led Smithtown West to a 35-9 victory over Smithtown East in the Division II football season opener Saturday night at Robert W. Pratt Field at Smithtown West High School.
 
West scored five rushing touchdowns — two by quarterback Kyle Keenan — and its defense held East in check for most of the game, with a big assist from the special teams. Senior Derrick Ladeairous pinned East deep in its own territory all night with long punts and kickoffs, and kicked five extra points to boot.
 
"The key tonight, we played great defense and field position really helped us at the beginning of the game," said Smithtown West coach Pete Cerullo. "We punted the ball and kept them at bay."
 
Senior fullback Mike Baruch battled leg cramps all game, but he was picked up by Logan Greco, whose touchdown early in the fourth quarter gave West a commanding 28-9 lead.
 
"It took our offense a while to get going, our starting running back was cramping up so we were really scrambling with formations, and figuring out how we were going to get things going," Cerullo said. "And then Logan Greco, a freshman, scored that touchdown and that turned the game around."
 
"We were definitely outmatched," said Smithtown East coach Jim Saladino. "Physically, they were a lot larger, more physical up front. We have a lot of sophomores starting, but that's not really an excuse. We still have to play ball. We couldn't move the ball much up front, and that's where it starts, unfortunately."
 
West led 21-0 at halftime, scoring first on a 43-yard run by Keenan, then again just 3:54 later on a 24-yard touchdown run by Baruch.
 
Midway through the second quarter, Anthony Gatto returned a punt 70 yards to the one yard-line, a touchdown prevented by the effort of punter Alec Federico, who knocked Gatto out of bounds. Keenan scored on a sneak two plays later from one yard out.
 
East had eight first-half possessions, the first six ending with punts and the final two ending in interceptions. But East battled back in the third quarter, forcing a short punt on West's opening possession. Taking over at the West 28, East scored on fourth down when quarterback Grant Gaska threw a 22-yard touchdown to Brendan Canese. Matt Edgar's point-after attempt was blocked, but East was on the board.
 
East kept the momentum going when Eric Binder recovered the ensuing kickoff. Saladino admitted later that the play was "a mess-up" and not a planned pooch kick, which is what it had looked like.
 
"Our first kicker went out with a concussion," he said, adding that the replacement kicker "toed it. We got lucky. It wasn't planned. I can't take credit."
 
Six plays later, Edgar kicked a 35-yard field goal to cut the West lead to 21-9.
 
West would bend no further. A punt by Ladeairous pushed East deep into its own territory, and then a short East punt gave West the ball at the East 31. On the next play, Greco scored on a 31-yard run to push West's advantage to 28-9.
 
A sack by West's Neeko Marchand forced a fumble by Gaska, recovered by Fred Walter at the East 4 yard-line. Three plays later, Gatto scored on an 11-yard run and West led, 35-9.
 
Keenan finished with 60 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and completed 2 of 3 passes for 25 yards, both to Gatto, who added 20 yards rushing. Baruch ran for 35 yards and Greco rushed for 33.
 
Gaska was 7-for-16 passing for 57 yards, with four receptions by Canese. Jake Koppelman had 52 yards rushing on four carries. Chris Vlasaty had 13 yards rushing, Federico had 11 and Justin Roman had 16.
 
While winning the home opener was big, it wasn't as important to Cerullo as the commitment shown by senior Chris Anzalone, who was carried off the field by his teammates.

"His brother was killed in a motorcycle accident last week," Cerullo said. "He didn't miss one practice. He didn't miss the scrimmage … so I wanted to carry him off. Because in the toughest time of his life, he never left us."
 
West has two challenging games coming up, Sept. 16 at West Babylon and at home against top-ranked North Babylon on Sept. 24.
 
East visits Centereach on Sept. 16, a team that is 1-0 after beating Hills East.
 
"We just have to regroup and play a lot better," Saladino said. "We've got to lick our wounds and come back next week."