Dalton Crossan's 4 Touchdowns Spark Sachem in Semifinal Win Over Northport

As the lyrics to James Brown's I Feel Good danced through the sound system at Fred Fusaro Alumni Stadium Friday night, Sachem could not have been happier.

Dalton Crossan had just rushed for his fourth touchdown when the catchy tune played and the Flaming Arrows waltzed around Northport en route to a 42-21 victory in the Suffolk County Division I semifinals.

Top-seeded Sachem (10-0) will play the winner of Saturday's Longwood-Floyd battle next week in the county championship at Stony Brook University.

"It's a great feeling, putting us back at Stony Brook," said Jesse Scanna, who rushed 10 times for 84 yards and one touchdown. "We want to come out on top for our senior year."

While Crossan was busy busting moves like Brown in his heyday, Sachem capped an eventful evening in the history books. This Arrows bunch tied a school record for wins in a season, tied a school record for points in a playoff game and is now the highest scoring team in program history (388), passing last year's mark of 358.

Crossan, who has stepped into the spotlight as one of the best backs on Long Island, rushed 10 times for 170 yards and his four scores were a season-high for Sachem.

He opened the game's scoring with a 55-yard dash down the right side, a typical Crossan blast past the offensive line and into the secondary untouched.

Fifth-seeded Northport (5-5) countered when John Laurine's 31-yard pass to Jack Delahunty helped set up a 5-yard Ryan Kokell touchdown at 4:24 in the first.

Scanna ran for a 50-yard touchdown with 1:06 left in the first. He hustled for a 38-yard score in the second quarter, but it was called back because of holding penalty.

That didn't stop Crossan from rushing for a 46-yard touchdown up the left side this time with 6:14 left in the first half. Sachem led, 21-7.

Sachem's only passing attempts came on the next series when Angelo Armine connected with Fred Golini for a 25-yard touchdown that was also called back for a penalty. Michael Andreassi, who rushed for 57 yards on 10 carries and hurt his ankle early in the game, attempted a pass on the next play with some trickery, but it was incomplete.

Kokell opened the second half with a fumble that Andreassi recovered and Crossan capitalized on with 23-yard touchdown on the first play of the third quarter at 11:41, putting Sachem up 28-7.

Laurine, who completed 9 of 14 passes for 184 yards, connected with Delahunty for a 32-yard touchdown at 7:57 of the third to bring the score closer at 28-14.

"I think they realized they couldn't run on us, so they had to try something else," Crossan said. "They tried to pass and we weren't really ready for it so we'll have to fix that and come out harder next week."

Two minutes later, Sachem put together a masterful drive consisting of huge gains from Armine, Scanna and Andreassi, before Crossan scored his fourth and final touchdown on a 10-yard dive play.

In the fourth, Trent Crossan added to the family touchdown total with an 84-yard scamper in the hash marks and Northport scored the last touchdown of the game when John Benitez ran the ball in from the 5. Trent's touchdown is the longest rushing score Sachem has put up this season.

While the story seems like it was all Crossan, everyone would tell you otherwise. It was the offensive line, again.

"We're able to run the ball because the holes are there," said Sachem head coach Dave Falco.

Still, Crossan has been a nice addition to the Arrows this year. "He's a competitor, a fast runner," Falco said. "With the holes that are there, he's pretty impressive."

Even an elder James Brown could twist, shake and slide through the holes this line creates.

News & Notes

-Only 23 other individual teams in the history of Long Island high school football have scored more points than Sachem has (388) in 2010. Football has been played on Long Island since 1884.

-Northport is the only team to score more than 15 points against Sachem this season.

-Other Sachem stats: Angelo Armine rushed six times for 57 yards.

-Other Northport stats: Tom Cordts caught four passes for 116 yards and one touchdown.

-Sachem out gained Northport, 465-312, in total offensive yards.

-One of the speakers at the stadium blew out during the fourth quarter. Mild spoke poured from the press box, to which stadium announcer and North boys basketball coach Tom Mullee requested help from the maintenance crew.

-Check Sachem Patch Saturday for the weekly "This Week in Sachem Football" blog.

-SN - Dalton Crossan 55 run (Bryan Morris kick good)

-N - Ryan Kokell 5 run (Pat Oertel kick good)

-SN - Jesse Scanna 50 run (Morris kick good)

-SN - D. Crossan 46 run (Morris kick good)

-SN - D. Crossan 23 run (Morris kick good)

-N - John Laurine 32 pass to Tom Cordts (Oertel kick good)

-SN - D. Crossan 10 run (Morris kick good)

-SN - Trent Crossan 84 run (Morris kick good)

-N - John Benitez 5 run (Oertel kick good)