Floyd Tops Sachem Again for Third Straight Year

Sachem dropped its third straight Suffolk County Division I final Sunday, losing to William Floyd, 35-20, at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium.

Floyd (9-2) advances to the Class I Long Island championship against Nassau's East Meadow next Sunday at Stony Brook.

In the battle of the ground game, Floyd's Stacey Bedell edged Sachem's Dalton Crossan in yardage. Bedell finished with 36 carries for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Crossan had 35 carries for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Sachem turned the ball over on its first possession on a Crossan fumble, which Floyd capitalized on, having Bedell run two plays for 66 yards and a touchdown. Bedell ran 39 yards for the score. On the play prior to the fumble, Crossan ran 40 yards for a touchdown that was called back for a questionable cut block behind the play.

The Flaming Arrows (9-2) tied the game on the next series when Crossan ran for a 29-yard touchdown, but Floyd answered back at 9:47 of the second quarter with a 15-yard Bedell touchdown to make the score 14-7.

Crossan scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left in the first half and kicker Bryan Morris missed the extra point, so Sachem trailed 14-13 after two quarters.

To open the third quarter, Floyd quarterback AJ Otranto threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Vantrell Nash and hooked up again at 3:36 of that quarter for a 26-yard touchdown pass. That put Floyd up 28-13.

Crossan scored on a 14-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and Bedell saved another 9-yard touchdown run to end a 12-play, 84-yard drive that ate up almost seven minutes of clock.

Sachem was slightly handicapped early on having sustained technical difficulty in their coaching headsets. Offensive coordinator Mike Maratto called plays from the sidelines instead of the box, as did assistant Joe Cannone. During the second half, defensive coordinator Dave Caputo used a cell phone from the field to communicate with assistant Tom Pandolf.

This is only the fourth team in Sachem's 50-year history to win nine games in a single-season. It's also only the second team to score more than 400 points in a season in program history (404).

Crossan finishes his career at Sachem as one of the greatesst players to ever wear the Black & Gold. He is the record holder for rushing touchdowns in a career (50) and season (35). He also ends with 3,143 career rushing yards, which is second all-time in program history. His 2,169 yards this year are the second most in a single season as well.

Fourth and Long

• Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko was on the Sachem sidelines. Lesko played JV football at Yale in the 1980s.
• The Flaming Arrows won their third straight Division I regular season title this season.
• Sachem's 16 apperances in the Suffolk County final is a county record.
• Check Sachem Patch this week for the usual historical updates on what this game meant in Sachem football history.

-F: Bedell 39 run, kick good

-S: Crossan 39 run, Morris kick

-F: Bedell 15 run, kick good

-S: Crossan 10 run, Morris no kick

-F: Otranto to Nash 50 pass, kick good

-F: Otranto to Nash 26 pass, kick good

-S: Crossan 14 run, Morris kick

-F: Bedell 9 run, kick good