Coming off only three days of rest and playing in their second game in one week, clearly no one could have criticized the Hicksville Crusaders 9-year-old football team had they turned in a less than spectacular performance on Oct. 30. However, after defeating Garden City two weeks ago and creating the possibility of a Divisional Championship within their midst, the Crusaders went full throttle last week in beating the Elmont Cardinals 26-6 at John Walker Memorial Field for their sixth consecutive win this season.

The offensive line of Michael Brumber, Dillon LeCuyler, Nick D'Aquila, Anthony Brindisi, Thomas Miller, Michael Corrado and John Lively had a huge day controlling the normally aggressive Elmont defense with bulldozing blocks giving the needed room for running backs Steven Maiorca, Joey Devito, Pat McCormick, Christian Katehis, Robbie Culp and James Culhane to move the ball downfield. The defense smothered nearly every Elmont attempt with great games coming from defensive tackle Joe Quinn, nose guard Glen Irizzary and linebacker Chris McMullan. Also playing well were Matt Arnone, James Stamos, Alex Shields, Andrew Maiorca, Steven Diaz, Thomas Ferrone, Joe Kelly and Pat Barnes. The team was without the services of Chris DeAngelis who was sick as the squad looks forward to his return this week.

The highlight play of the game came on Hicksville's final score when quarterback Kyle Roche took a four step drop and launched a 20-yard dart to Pat McCormick who made a nice catch and ran to the end zone to seal the game for the Crusaders.

After a disappointing opening day loss, the Crusaders have righted their ship with hard work and discipline, never trailing in any other games, having outscored opponents 154-24 during that span. A win against the Franklin Square Warriors this weekend will bring a Nassau County Youth Football League Championship home to Hicksville. The game, which is the Crusaders final one for the season, will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Rath Park in Franklin Square.