I have not written since the first game because I was brought up to believe if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all. Well this week the Lions vented their frustrations on the Centereach Cougars who were looking for a possible playoff birth. To be honest it started rough for the Lions. Punting on their first possession and then recovering a Centereach fumble where they proceeded to go 3 and out punting the ball back to the Cougars. The defense lead by Seniors John Devlin, Matt Mottes, Alex Barbera and JJ Downey were tough all game. Late in the 1st quarter Junior quarterback Connor Smith threw a short pass to Mr. Excitement, Alex Barbera, who ran through the Cougar defense for a 66 yard touchdown catch. These two were not through, later in the 2nd quarter Barbera ran under a long pass from Smith and produced a 72 yard touchdown. As the 2nd quarter was winding down the Lions again had the ball in Cougar territory. This time it was Senior Max McNicholas’s turn. McNicholas was playing his first game since being injured in the pre-season. He took a handoff and found daylight for a 35 yard touchdown run. The offensive line played a good game led by Seniors Devlin, Mottes, Greg Ponce, Jake Bilello, Matt Cairo and Junior George Gambuto. With a half time lead of 21-0 things were looking up for the Lions. After stopping the Cougars on first possession of the 2nd half a big sack by Junior Mike Lombardi was a key in this series. Senior JJ Downey took a short pass from Smith and with a couple of nifty moves found the sideline and raced past the Cougar defense for a 38 yard touchdown and 28-0 lead. Very early in the 4th quarter the Lions were moving ball deep in Cougar territory and McNicholas made a terrific 10 yard run for a touchdown and a 35-0 nothing lead. A shout out here for kicker Bryan Woodburn who has not missed an extra point all year and whose overall kicking has been excellent all season. The rest the game was time for the second team where Senior Anthony Urcuiolio and Junior Alex Ponce ran well. The second team defense made a goal line stand led by Seniors Kyle Sawina and Dan Riveria and juniors Sean Malone and Alex Schwartz stuffing the play and Junior defensive back Vinnie Zaccaria stripping the ball from runner.It was good for the Lions and made for a happy Homecoming Day crowd.
