The Glen Cove varsity football lost another heartbreaker in double overtime to No.1-ranked Wantagh High School on Saturday, Big Red's third loss occurring on the last play of the game. However, the team earned a spot in the Nassau County Conference 3 Championship Playoffs and will travel to Wantagh to begin the playoffs in a rematch of Saturday's game.

Wantagh is currently undefeated at 7-0 and is ranked No. 1 by Newsday as the top football team on Long Island but the ranking did not deter the Covers from pushing the Warriors to the brink. On a field that could best be described as a muddy quagmire, Big Red came from behind by holding the ball the entire third quarter and then scoring the tying TD in the fourth.

Brown, Bresky and Beatty ran behind the churning legs of Alfaro, McGrady, Huggins, Belfiore and Linares for small chunks of real estate at a time. Center Chris Palmisano, once again asked to single wing snap a muddy ball play in and play out, was near perfect as the Glen Cove recorded zero turnovers for the game.

Once again, the defense was the real story. After giving up a TD on Wantagh's opening drive the Big Red held the Warriors scoreless for over three-and-a-half quarters, plus the first overtime. It was a pretty impressive feat considering Wantagh leads the county in scoring. This Saturday the "D" will certainly be asked to rise to another level as Wantagh will be a different team on a dry field.

Game time is 3 p.m. at Wantagh High School. Fans should mark their calendars and come out and cheer the Big Red on to the championship.

Francesca Ferrante is headed for States, again! Francesca is closing out her swimming career at Glen Cove and ending on a string note. The Nassau County meet has yet to be held, yet Frenchie has already qualified for States in an independent meet and is likely to qualify in her second event as well at the Nassau County Championships this upcoming weekend. In addition to being the only independent swimmer in Nassau County to qualify for States this year, Frenchie was recently nominated for two awards/scholarships for her swimming efforts and academics achievement of a 4.0 average at Glen Cove High School.

Last year, Glen Cove watched Francesca place in the top 18 in New York State in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-IM. As a senior this year, she is among the top swimmers in nearly every event in Nassau County. Frenchie is determined to go out strong this year at the New York State Girls Swimming Championships.

Francesca had some company in the water this year when Rachel Parker joined her in Glen Cove's independent swimming program. Rachel also had an extraordinary season. She made Counties in all of the events she swam. Rachel will take aim at qualifying for States in the 50-free and 100-yard butterfly this upcoming weekend as well. Rachel is only a freshman and already outswims most of girls in Nassau County. It hasn't been a bad season for a school that technically doesn't have a swim team. The excitement for the season is just beginning. Nice work, girls!

Last week, the Glen Cove eighth-grade soccer team was able to obtain another victory against Herricks with the final score 4-2.

Goals were scored by Luis Barrillas, Andrew Bedell and Oscar Bonilla.

In the exciting game, the Glen Cove team scored the first goal, followed by a second penalty kick created by Andrew Bedell and executed by Luis Barillas. Around the second quarter, Herricks was able to score on us but we came back with a tremendous pass which Andrew Bedell headed into the net. Toward the end of the game, we actually scored another goal thanks to a corner kick by Giancarlo Pagliara which Oscar Bonilla headed into the net for a final score of 4-2. The players did a great job and are encouraged to keep up the good work!