The Mineola High School varsity football team has endured all kinds of weather elements in the first month of the season. A pretty young Mustangs bunch opened the season on the road against the pre-season number two seed Cold Spring Harbor.

Mineola held a 7-6 first quarter lead when junior quarterback Jon Hock finished off an impressive drive with a 9-yard scoring run. But the Mustangs could not stop big plays by the Seahawks. The home team scored on touchdown passes of 43 and 55 yards. An 80-yard run eventually put away the Mustangs 47-13. Mineola's second touchdown came on Hock's 5-yard pass to Chris Orlando.

Mineola bounced back with a road win in the second game of the season, defeating Friends Academy 17-8. Junior Chris Orlando scored in the first quarter on a 2-yard run. He added the finishing touch when he returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown with under a minute left in the game. Junior Mike Roo kicked a 30-yard field goal that was set up by Tiago Rodriguez's 45-yard run that took the ball inside the Friend's 20-yard line. Roo also added a pair of extra points. Senior defensive back Nelson Lopes also intercepted two passes, including one at Mineola's 5-yard line in the second quarter that ended a Friend's drive.

Mineola's first home game of the season was also homecoming. On a beautiful Oct. 1 day, the Mustangs outlasted Locust Valley 21-14 in overtime to cap off a great homecoming day.

Tiago Rodrigues scored on a 20-yard run on the first play of overtime. Mike Roo added the entry point for the final margin. The Mustangs then held Locust Valley when Nelson Lopes make a tackle on a fourth down play to end the game. Chris Orlando scored Mineola's first two touchdowns and finished the day with 100 yards on 8 carries.

The scene was all set for a beautiful home game under the lights at Hampton Stadium on Oct. 9. The lights were there, but there was nothing beautiful about two days of driving rain that made for a quagmire and eventually resulted in a Saturday night loss to North Shore 21-9.

Despite the conditions, Mineola held a 3-0 lead at halftime on Mike Roo's 25-yard field goal. The Mustangs added a touchdown in the third quarter on a 21-yard pass from Jon Hock to Mark Dadich and it was 9-0 after three quarters. But, the visiting Vikings came storming back in the fourth quarter with 21 unanswered points and a victory in the muck.

The Mineola High School boys varsity soccer team is continuing its strong season. When last we visited, the Mustangs had started their season with six wins. The first loss came on the road at Great Neck North 3-0. Two days later, the Mustangs were back home and playing one of the most entertaining soccer games I've seen in years. Mineola eventually beat a very tough Westbury club 3-2. The winner came with nine minutes left when Mike Marques scored on a throw-in from Gustavo Dias, who had tied the game with a goal 16 minutes earlier. The first Mineola goal came from Mathias Muller. Claudio De Matos made six saves in a huge win for the Mustangs.

On Friday night of homecoming weekend, Mineola played to a 2-2 tie with Roslyn. The Mustangs held a 2-0 lead in the first half on goals from Mike Marques and Nuno Rodrigues before Roslyn's comeback under the lights on a band new field turf in the stadium at North Hempstead Park.

Since then, the Mustangs have come back with 3-1 and 5-0 victories over Hewlett and Glen Cove respectively. Sean Wachter, Mike Marques and Mathias Muller scored in the win over Hewlett. Gustavo Dias and Helder Cancelinha each had two goals while Mike Marques scored again in the win over Glen Cove. As of Oct. 10, Mineola was 6-1-1 in Conference ABC-II.

The Mineola girls varsity soccer team has been battling the weather like everyone else. Between eight straight days of driving rain and the holidays, there was not much action for a couple of weeks.

In our last visit, the Mineola girls had notched their first win of the season. Since then, they had only played twice. Long Beach came to town and took a 1-0 decision, scoring the winner with five minutes left in the first overtime. But, the night before homecoming, playing under the lights at North Hempstead Park, the Lady Mustangs played inspired soccer in roughing up Roslyn 4-1.

After the visitors scored first, Senior Allie Kain tied the score in the 50th minute. Senior Marisa Jetter then put Mineola ahead to stay when she scored in the 62nd minute. Liz Furuya and Kasey Hughes also scored for Mineola while Gigi Alas made sight saves. Mineola upped its record to 2-5 in Conference VI.

Volleyball Team Nets Some More Wins

Weather makes no difference for the volleyball team. The Mineola High School varsity volleyball squad has won three and lost two matches since we last wrote about them. The strings started with a loss at Floral Park in three games - 17-25, 14-25 and 15-25. The Mustangs followed that with a win over Roslyn in five exciting games. Senior Liz Campbell had 13 aces in the match that went 25-12, 25-27, 20-25 and 26-24. Two days later, the Lady Mustangs beat Carl Place in four games 25-22, 22-25, 25-12 and 25-19 behind Liz Campbell, who had 10 kills and 8 aces. But, then Mineola dropped a four-game match at Garden City 23-25, 25-23, 23-25 and 16-25. Mineola returned home to hand a four-game defeat to Mepham by scores of 25-13, 25-12, 18-25 and 25-18. Liz Campbell had 15 kills in the victory.

Mineola High School's athletic department each season honors its senior athletes and their families with senior recognition dates in each sport. The upcoming dates for the fall sports are Oct. 19 for boys soccer, Oct. 21 for girls volleyball, Oct. 24 for girls soccer and Oct. 29 for football. Please come to the games and support the Mustangs.