Crossan to Learn Hansen Fate Monday Night

Sachem's Dalton Crossan will find out Monday night if he wins this season's Hansen Award given to Suffolk County's top football player annually.

Crossan finished his senior season with a program-record 2,186 yards and 35 rushing touchdowns. He'll be in the running with Floyd rival Stacey Bedell, who played one more game than Crossan and finished with 2,532 yards and 39 touchdowns.

"It would be an honor to win it because of how prestigious the award is and how many great players have won it in the past," said Crossan. "There's only a select group of special players who have won it so it would definitely be special to me."

If there was ever a year to split the award it would be in 2011. Crossan and Bedell have forged a formidable rivalry in Suffolk's Division I, accounting for more combined total offensive yardage than any two players in one division on Long Island this season.

"That's still winning it," Crossan said of a potential split.

Bedell rushed for a Long Island championship record 412 yards in Floyd's Class I title win over East Meadow. Earlier this fall he decommitted from Villanova and is weighing offers.

Crossan, who has a pile of offers himself from various schools, finished his career as the No. 2 leading rusher in Sachem history with 3,170 yards in two seasons. He ranks No. 10 in Suffolk and No. 11 in Long Island history with his 4,214 total yards compiled at Shoreham and Sachem over four varsity seasons.

Sachem has had three previous Hansen winners: Brian Dehler (1977), Mark Wojciechowski (1985) and James O'Neal (1995).

Only once since the awards inception in 1960 has it been split. In 2009 JeVahn Cruz from Hills West and Malcolm Cater from Riverhead won it. Today Cruz plays at Stony Brook, while Cater is serving one to three years in a upstate prison for his involvement in a burglary spree at Syracuse where he played one season before being let go from the school.

Last season Sachem's Jesse Scanna was a runner-up for the Hansen and in many people's eyes, the rightful winner of the award. Instead, it went to Connetquot's Mike Pellegrino. Scanna was hands down the top two-way player in Suffolk County, if not Long Island, as a running back and linebacker and is playing football at Cortland. Pellegrino is playing lacrosse at Johns Hopkins.

Crossan and Bedell have electric playing styles that captivated audiences for their entire high school careers. While Bedell was held under 100 yards rushing in multiple games this season, Crossan never rushed for fewer than 139 yards in a game, which he did against Patchogue-Meford in the Suffolk quarterfinals.

"They are two of the greatest players to ever play football in Suffolk County," said Sachem coach Dave Falco. "It was a pleasure to watch both of them. Whatever happens with the Hansen happens. I'm obviously biased towards my guy and I'm sure they're biased towards their guy."

Crossan had seven games in his 22-game career at Sachem where he rushed for 200-plus yards.

"What a career Dalton has had," Falco said. "Fun to watch, fun to coach. He's a great kid in regards to leadership for our younger kids to see. Part of their development is because of him. He's had a great career and has to rank up there with the top one or two guys that have ever played here at Sachem."

More on Crossan:

• Crossan set the career touchdown record with 50, passing James O'Neal's mark of 46.
• He tied the single-game rushing touchdown record with five for the second time this season. Besides Crossan, only O'Neal ran for five touchdowns in a game twice. Davon Lawrence did it once.
• He set the single-season rushing touchdown record with 35.
• He tied the single-game points scoring record, which is 32 set by O'Neal in 1995.
• Crossan finished his career ranked No. 1 at Sachem all-time in single-season rushing yardage with 2,186 yards.
• He has the overall Sachem touchdown record too with 58.
• His 208 rushing attempts this year are the third most in a single-season in Sachem history. The record is 359 by James O'Neal in 1995.
• His 10.43 yards per carry single-season average is fifth all-time in school history. He holds the record, 12.14, set in 2010. He also holds the career yards per carry record with a mark of 10.91.
• Crossan had six 200-yard rushing games in 2011: (William Floyd 2X, Lindenhurst, Northport, Connetquot, Sachem East).
• With his 218 yards in the county final, Crossan (35 TDs and 2,186 rushing yards in 2011 - tops on Long Island) has 3,170 career yards, good enough for No. 2 all-time in Sachem history. If you add in his numbers from two varsity seasons at Shoreham, he has 4,214 career yards as a high school football player. 
• Crossan ranks No. 10 all-time in Suffolk County history in rushing yards and No. 11 in Long Island history. He ranks ninth all-time in county history for single-season yardage and eighth in county history. He ranks fifth all-time in points scored in Long Island history with 434. He ranks fifth all-time in Long Island history for points scored in a season with 230. He ranks fifth all-time on Long Island with 72 career touchdowns. He ranks fourth all-time in Long Island history with 38 touchdowns in a single season.