The 11-year-old Mineola Chiefs went on the road Saturday, Sept. 20 and played under the lights in front of over 200 screaming fans. They shut out the East Rockaway Raiders 19-0.
Defensive coach Tim O’Connell had his Chiefs 6-2 Defense aggressively attacking the football all over the field, causing four turnovers, two interceptions by Kayden Davis and two fumble recoveries by Kylereek Williams. Cornerbacks Gabriel Brodsky, Jack Healy and safety Liam Connolly were leading the way, flying to the ball and making tackles all over the field.
Linebacker Maison Zito was solid once again, blitzing and chasing the Raiders quarterback all night long.
The defensive line, led by Landen Larios, Branden Gonzalez, Keisen Tejada, Lukas Barrios-Gonzalez, Michael Babarcich, Jonah Uys, Sanjay Sakhichand, Davis Weinstein, Henry Nefouse and Arjun Dukhande, caused chaos and pressure on the Raiders’ offense until the final whistle was blown.
On the sidelines watching was recent Mineola Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Redmond.
“That was the best defensive coaching I’ve seen in my 50 years with the Chiefs football program,” Redmond said.
The Chiefs’ long-time offensive coach, Mike Cavallaro, got the offense on track this week, running 40 different plays and scoring 19 unanswered points, including two touchdown runs, an extra point by Liam Connolly and a touchdown run by Kayden Davis.
Quarterback Will Sciortino completed passes to Gabriel Brodsky, Liam Connolly and Maison Zito. The offense starts with center Thomas Buatti, anchored by linemen James Zameryka, Chase Dodge, Declan Blattner, Frankie Gossin and Ethan Moreno.
The Chiefs said they look forward to moving through the season.
