10-Year-Old Defeated By Uniondale Knights
There are times in the world of sports that no matter how hard you try the result is not always successful.
On the morning of Oct. 18 at the Mitchell Field Athletic complex, the 10-year-old Crusaders experienced one of those times as they took on the undefeated Uniondale Knights in the rain, wind and biting cold.
The weather conditions created numerous fumbles for both teams but Uniondale did a better job capitalizing on them, scoring three times in the first half. Throughout the game, the Crusaders offensive line took a pounding. Even so, Hicksville was able to put a series of drives together. When it came to crossing the goal line, they were stopped short each time.
Despite a 25-0 loss for the Crusaders, looking for a bright side in this game was extremely easy. On defense, rookie corner back Vincent Barretta, a star on the rise, made a number of solo tackles and was involved in holding Uniondale’s runners long enough to gather help from his teammates. It seemed he was undaunted by the weather conditions.
The coaching staff and players are determined to not let this loss affect the balance of the season.
11-Year-Olds Suffer First Loss of Season
On a rainy Oct. 18, the 11-year-old Crusaders went to Garden City looking to extend their undefeated record; unfortunately, things would not go their way.
Garden City started the scoring in the first quarter to go ahead 7-0. The Crusaders offense got off to a very slow start fumbling the ball away on their first two possessions, while Garden City scored their second touchdown of the day to go ahead 14–0. Hicksville’s offense finally got on track late in the second quarter and put together a 70-yard drive with running backs Sam Ingardia, Luke Walker and Matt Roberts running behind the blocking of the entire offensive line. The drive was concluded on a 2-yard quarterback sneak by Anthony Rolston. This left only 47 seconds left in the half, unfortunately enough time for Garden City to put up another score before the end of the half to make the score 20-6.
Hicksville made the necessary adjustments at halftime and knew they were in for a battle if they wanted to keep their undefeated record. When the offense took the field they wasted little time before Nico Mueller carved his way through the Garden City defense to score Hicksville’s second touchdown and make the score 20-13. As the game wore on, Hicksville’s defense shut down the Garden City and would not allow any points in the second half.
With time winding down in the fourth quarter, Hicksville was again on the move and looking to even the score, unfortunately a fumble on the 25-yard line ended the Crusaders drive and allowed Garden City to run out the clock.
Although the score goes into the books as a loss each and every member of this team was a winner due to the fact that they never gave up and fought to the end.
