Mineola Mustang Sports Highlights

By Bob Nelson

JV Football Team Defeats Powerhouse Bethpage

Well, the winter sports season is now upon us. But before we move on to our winter teams, I have some unfinished business to report on. As the fall season ended, JV Football Coach Miller wrote about the JV teams final game of the season. And from the following article, you can see why I feel compelled to step back a few weeks and print these highlights. They had a fantastic season and varsity football Coach Guido should feel great about the talent he will be working with next season. Congratulations to Coach Miller and the entire JV Football Team for a very successful and exciting season!

JV Football

Coach: Mark Miller

Game Date: 11/8

Mineola 18 - Bethpage 6

Summary and Highlights

On the final weekend of football, the Mineola JV Mustangs had to go up against the talented Golden Eagles of Bethpage. At stake was a possible 6-1 record for the season, the best in about 20 years for the Mustangs. To make things tougher, the Mustangs have never beaten Bethpage. Last year the team came close, coming up two points short in an exciting 15-14 game.

For the third straight weekend, the team had to play in heavy rains. Mineola was ready, taking the game's opening offensive possession and moving the ball on an eight-play 72-yard drive culminating with James McQueen taking it in from the three (extra-point failed)) for a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. The rest of the half saw the tough Mineola defense stopping Bethpage cold, not allowing a first down on three separate possessions. Mineola's offense, however, got stuck in the mud, turning the ball over to Bethpage twice on fumbles. Toward the end of the half Mineola started to get back on track on two strong runs by Matt Antoniou to get the ball down to the 24-yard line of Bethpage. During a time out a bolt of lightning in the area immediately suspended the game for 20 minutes. It was then that the decision was made, with the weather getting worse, that the game be stopped and resumed on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 10:30 a.m. with Mineola having a first down on the 24-yard line with four minutes left in the half.

On a beautiful day to play football the game resumed. Mineola had high hopes of scoring, but ran into a pumped-up Bethpage defense who stopped the 'Stangs in their tracks in four plays. Momentum started to swing to Bethpage when in four plays the Eagles moved the ball 43 yards. The Mustang's defense came up big when Antoniou intercepted a Bethpage pass and returned it 10 yards to bring their drive to a screeching halt. Mineola then proceeded to run the clock out to take a 6-0 lead into halftime.

The second half opened up with Bethpage receiving the kickoff. Mineola's tough defense was up to the task and stopped them after a short six-play drive. Antoniou was awesome making tackles on four of the six plays. After receiving Bethpage's punt Mineola went on a 12-play 78-yard scoring drive. Two key plays were a 37-yard run by McQueen and a 10-yard pass reception by Jonathan Baston from Vishal Gandhi. The touchdown came on a 2-yard run by Antoniou (extra point failed) making the score 12-0 after three quarters.

The fourth quarter began with Bethpage refusing to go away. They went on their own 18-play 73-yard scoring drive. The Mustang defense hung tough when Bethpage had a first down on the 7-yard line and extended them to fourth down on the three before they scored on a broken play (extra point failed.) With the score now 12-6, Bethpage was in position to win with another score. After receiving the kickoff all Mineola had to do was string a couple of first downs together to win the game. The Bethpage defense, however, would not let that happen. After gaining only four yards on three plays, the Mustangs had to punt the ball back to Bethpage with the game on the line. It seemed that the momentum had turned and thoughts of last year's crushing 15-14 defeat started to resurface.

This time the game would play out differently. Mineola's defense rose to the occasion with Pete Teemsma and Vladimir Srdoc stuffing Bethpage on first down. On the next three plays Jonathan Baston, Teemsma and Matt Maier forced incomplete passes and Mineola took the ball over on downs. Then on one play Mineola iced the game when Antoniou scored from 57 yards out, right up the middle of the Bethpage defense (extra point failed) to bring the score to a final of 18-6. Time ran out on Bethpage and Mineola celebrated its first win over Bethpage ever and a 7-1 season (scrimmages included). Mineola's outstanding defensive effort was led by Jonathan Baston with 8 tackles and 0 assists; Eugene Dolan 7/1; Antoniou 7/1; Maier 2/5; Luis Centeno 4/2; and Matt Damon 3/0.

Coach Mark Miller and assistant coach Steve Mitchell, along with student-teacher coach Frank Ciaramitaro would like to congratulate the entire JV squad for a great season. The hard work, commitment and desire of the following players were the key to this successful season:

Tenth graders: Matt Antoniou, Jonathan Baston, Luis Centeno, Matt Damon, Eugene Dolan, Vishal Gandhi, Matt Maier, James McQueen, Nelson Pereira, Ryan Schager, Alfonse Silva, Vladimir Srdoc, Peter Teemsma and Jeremy Yan.

Ninth graders: Oscar Bautista, John Bonetti, Steve Bruno, Ricardo Discandia, Raul Gonzolez, Chris Jones, Brian Sallie, Kris Strucic, David Terezo and Richard Vieira.

Stats: 243 yards rushing, 10 yards passing, 21 yards on returns-274 total yards.

Matt Antoniou - 142 yards rushing on 14 carries, 10.2 yards per carry, two touchdowns, eight yards on returns.

James McQueen - 91 yards rushing on 15 carries, 6.1 yards per carry, one touchdown, 13 yards on returns.

Luis Centeno - 14 yards rushing on four carries, 3.5 yards per carry.

Chris Jones - one yard rushing.

Vishal Gandhi - 1 for 3 passing for 10 yards.

Jonathan Baston - 10 yards passing.