The Mineola Varsity football team opened its season by splitting the first two games. The Mustangs could not have kicked-off the season in tougher fashion, playing on the road against the defending Conference IV champion and the team favored to do it again.

The Rough Riders lived up to their billing, defeating Mineola 34-7. Roosevelt returned 10 of its 11 starters from last year. So, this team is a polished unit. Mustangs coach Dan Guido, said, "We played well in the first, third and fourth quarters. But, we fell apart in the second quarter. We have eight new starters on defense. But, we will get better with experience."

The only Mineola TD came when senior quarterback Richie Carter found senior wide receiver, Sean Bailey, with a 25 yard toss. Roosevelt kept the Mineola offense bottled-up most of the day. The leading rushers were Derek Seber with 27 yards and Robert Wong with 25 yards. Coach Guido also mentioned those new starters on defense - senior Derek Weber, who has never played before, senior Pat Cahil, who has not played for three years, senior Kevin Franciotti, who also has not played football the last three years, senior Julio Gauto, who has only played one year, and sophomore Mike Roo, who played offensive line on the JV team last year. Weber led the team in tackles against Roosevelt with seven. Greg Gabriel and Pat Gaffney had six tackles each.

There was marked improvement in game two. It was Mineola's home opener. The Mustangs jumped on North Shore and wouldn't let them get up in a 28-7 victory. Senior Pat Gaffney came up with a big third quarter interception, which he returned for a touchdown and put Mineola ahead to stay 14-7. Mineola crushed the Vikings with their ground game. The Mustangs rushed for 250 yards on 34 carries. Coach Guido said, "Quarterback Richie Carter did a great job of running the option. Derek Weber had a tremendous overall game and Julio Gauto hit all of his extra points."

Meanwhile, Mineola held North Shore to 38 yards rushing. Guido gave credit to his entire defense, including defensive ends Dave Gouveia, Leo Morales and Kevin Franciotti, plus defensive tackles Anthony Tretolo, Andrew Breen and Dan Vezo, along with linebackers Mike Roo, Greg Gabriel and Derek Weber. Obviously the offensive line did a great job too,

And Guido mentioned these guys as having big games--Tretolo, Morales, Claudio Saavedra, Nick Laurino, Vezo plus tight ends Roo and Andrew Jakubek, along with fullbacks Gabriel and Gaffney.

As the coach mentioned, Weber had a great overall game, carrying the ball 10 times for 83 yards, scoring a touchdown, and leading the defense with eight tackles and a quarterback sack.

Robert Wong also had a strong day carrying the ball, churning up 80 yards on 14 carries and scoring a touchdown. Carter ran seven times for 48 yards and a touchdown and connected on 2 of 4 passes for 14 yards. Gabriel had 35 yards on five carries and had seven tackles defensively, including a quarterback sack. Gaffney, Gauto and Mike Bencivenga each had six tackles against North Shore. The win was certainly a great way for the Mustangs to forget about game one and look forward to game three--homecoming, which was played on Saturday, Oct 2.