The Big Red Varsity Football Team pushed its season record to 2 - 0 this past Saturday by defeating Lynbrook High School 20-7. The team accomplished the feat without completing a pass. Behind the blocking of Paul Graziosi, Brad Beisler, Alex Carcui, Mike Peluso and Sean Basdavanos, the team rushed for 383 yards!

The real highlight of the game, however, was sophomore sensation Zhivargo Simmons, who set an unofficial school record of 265 yards on 24 carries! Simmons broke Chris Petrizzo's 1996 game total of 250 yards and also passed Matt Capobianco's game total of 242 yards set last year.

On the second play from scrimmage, Simmons cut off a crunching kick-out block by Beisler and then sprinted 62 yards for the touchdown. Jon Torres followed with an extra point and the Big Red went into halftime leading by a narrow 7-0 margin. Midway through the third quarter, QB Alex Gratsias optioned off the same End who was crunched on the first touchdown. Simmons took the option pitch and sprinted 61 yards for his second touchdown of the game! Lynbrook closed the score to 14-7 on a long pass and run. Then the Big Red offense kicked into gear going 90 yards on six plays, capped by Alex Gratsias' seven-yard run.

The surprise of this '99 season has been the play of the defense. Lynbrook, a Power I team was held to under 100-yard rushing by Glen Cove's Big "D"! The front five of Paul Graziosi, Anthony Sullivan, Mark Norman, Jason Hopkins and Charles McCullough held the Owl line in check, while linebackers Dave Graziosi, Jeff Rudloff and Mike Peluso stepped up to collect tackles.

This Saturday the Big Red travels to Garden City to take on the #1 seeded Trojans. The battle of the "GCs" promises to be quite a matchup, pitting the 1998 Conference II Champions vs. the 1998 Conference III Champions. Fan support will be more important than ever this week as the Big Red takes to the road for the first time this season.