Falcons Roll Over East Rockaway 47-0 In Playoff Opener

Falcons Alex Minicozzi scoring TD against East Rockaway

Photos by Dan Brennan

More Photos at end of article.

• Dan Brennan
The Falcons began another playoff season under head coach Joe Knoll with a very convincing thrashing of East Rockaway High School on Saturday, November 7. The third seeded Falcons had no trouble disposing the Rocks, seeded sixth, with a defense that gave up no points and an offense that seemed it could score at will in the opening round of the Conference IV playoffs.
Locust Valley started the game kicking off to East Rockaway and the defense promptly put its stamp on the game giving up only one yard in three plays forcing the Rocks to have to punt. The Falcons took their first possession of the game at their own 39-yard line and handed the ball off to Locust Valley’s leading offensive threat who immediately put the Falcons ahead with a 61-yard touchdown run. Frank Vezza added the extra point and Locust Valley never looked back. On East Rockaway’s next possession, the Falcons almost reverted to some old mistakes that have plagued them this season when on fourth down and East Rockaway punting the Falcons were called for roughing the punter and gave the Rocks one of their few first downs. East Rockaway got as far as the 42-yard line of Locust Valley but had to punt again with the Falcons taking their second possession of the game at their own 21-yard line. Marc Mauro ran the first play to the 44-yard line of Locust Valley and then ran the next play to the East Rockaway 35-yard line. After several penalties and another run by Marc Mauro to the 33-yard line, Chad Cloninger hit Sam Rozzo for a touchdown pass for the Falcon’s second score of the game. The Extra point was no good but the Falcons now held a 13-0 lead. The first quarter would end with East Rockaway at its own 44-yard line. Two plays into the second quarter the Falcons, who have come so close to blocking punts all season long, finally got one, blocking the Rocks’ punt and recovering the ball at the East Rockaway 18-yard line. The Falcons gave the ball back on its first down run fumbling to East Rockaway. The Falcon defense held the Rocks, dropping them back to the 11-yard line where they had to punt once again. This time, captain Rob Alfano did the running, taking a first down carry for 60-yards and pay dirt for the third Falcon touchdown of the game. Going for two points, the Falcons were successful on a pass from Chad Cloninger to Kevin Carrigan. The score was now 20-0. Locust Valley would score one more time before the first half ended. With 4:49 on the clock Marc Mauro scored on a 56-yard touchdown run and with the extra point by Frank Vezza the Falcons went into the locker room with a 28-0 lead.
The Falcons opened the second half with the ball on their own 48-yard line. Marc Mauro ran for three yards on first down to the East Rockaway 49-yard line. On second down Mauro ran 49-yards for his third touchdown of the game. The extra point was unsuccessful, but Locust Valley had upped the score to 34-0. Locust Valley would go on to score two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The first would come after Locust Valley moved the ball from the East Rockaway 49-yard line to the three yard line during a drive that began at the end of the third quarter. On the second play from scrimmage of the final quarter Spanky Guerriero scored and with the successful extra point attempt the score was 41-0. The final Falcon score would come on a four yard touchdown run by Alex Minicozzi.
Marc Mauro had another outstanding game as he has down most of this season. Marc ran for 209 yards on only 10 carries and three touchdowns but it isn’t only offense where Marc is a standout. He had eight tackles from his safety position. Rob Alfano had 77 yards on four carries and led the defense with nine tackles. Quarterback Chad Cloninger didn’t have to throw the ball very much but made the most of his two completions with one of them being a 33-yard touchdown to tight end Sam Rozzo. Alex Minicozzi rushed for 68 yards on eight attempts and scored one touchdown. Spanky Guerriero scored one touchdown on one carry and also had one quarterback sack and recovered one fumble. Joe Ronzetti had one fumble recovery and Kevin Carrigan had one interception. The Falcon defense was a star in this game as the entire unit held East Rockaway to only 73 total yards.
Locust Valley will face off against Floral Park High School at Hofstra University in the next round of the playoffs. The Falcons defeated Floral Park on October 24 by a score of 31-7. Locust Valley cannot take Floral Park lightly and will need their defense to play as well as it did against East Rockaway this past Saturday. Floral Park got into the playoffs with a huge upset win against Roosevelt High School scoring a touchdown with nine seconds to play and then scoring a two point conversion to win by one point, 15-14. Floral Park will be seeking revenge for its loss at the hands of the Falcons and will be confident with their huge win against Roosevelt.
The Falcons have made the Nassau County Conference IV playoffs every year that Coach Joe Knoll has been at the helm since 2006. The Falcons lost in the quarter final round to the number two seeded North Shore High School in 2006 by a close 14-7 score, then got to the semi-final playoff game at Hofstra University in 2007 against another number two seed, Malverne High School, who had to go into overtime to defeat the Falcons 32-26. This Falcon team was losing 26-14 at half time but came back. Current senior captain Rob Alfano scored two touchdowns in that game including the game tying TD with only 1:06 left in regulation. In 2008 Locust Valley once again faced the number two seed in the semi final playoff game at Hofstra but lost 26-7 to a very strong Roosevelt High School team. This year’s Falcon squad has the best chance it’s had to get to the Conference IV Championship game. Floral Park is the fifth seeded team in the Conference having knocked off the number two seeded Roosevelt team. Locust Valley is the third ranked team in the Conference. It is a short week of practice because the game is on Thursday November 12 at 4pm at Hofstra University. The Falcons will be prepared. Coach Knoll has prepared his teams each year for this and the Falcons will be ready to play football. Come out and support the playoff drive by the Falcons. This is a Thursday afternoon game and not the normal Saturday afternoon event. Be there at 4pm at Hofstra University.

Falcons Marc Mauro hitching a ride on East Rockaway runner

Falcons Marc Mauro making a big gain against East Rockaway

Falcons Phil Merenda pursuing East Rockaway runner

Falcons Rob Alfano breaking East Rockaway tackle enroute to 60 yard touchdown