by MATT WEININGER
So close, yet so far.
Oceanside was one win away from a county title but failed to prevail as they lost to Massapequa 35-26. The Massapequa team which gave Oceanside their only loss in the regular season also provided them their second loss to end the season. The Sailors showed tremendous fight throughout the game, but it just wasn’t enough to stop the Chiefs.
On the offensive side of the ball the Sailor’s came out strong in the first half and especially in the first drive marching down the field with a Charlie Mckee rushing touchdown to open up the game. Although the QB did get another rushing touchdown towards the end of the first half, going into halftime the Sailors were still down 14-13.
The second half started with a bang from the Chiefs running back the kickoff to extend the lead 21-13. The Sailors bounced back though scoring their third touchdown on highlight reel play from Mckee to Ronne Kraemer as he dove out to catch the ball in the endzone bringing the sailors a point away 21-20. Unfortunately the offense really couldn’t get going after that until late in the fourth quarter as they got stopped in the red zone back-to-back times.
Out of seemingly nowhere the penalties got out of hand on both sides when Oceanside was in the red zone as the refs blew multiple plays dead, making it difficult for Oceanside to keep the momentum. With the refs calling a lot they still missed some plays that should have been flagged. After Massapequa opportunistically extended their lead 35-20 after the failed drives by Oceanside the Sailors made one last push to close the gap. Ronnie Kraemer scored another touchdown to make the game 35-26 but a failed extra point put the game too far out of reach at that moment. It seemed to look like Oceanside was running the same plays again and again but it just wasn’t enough to get past the Chiefs defense.
The defense was not able to stop a lot of the third and fourth downs when Oceanside needed it the most and had a hard time clogging up the run game. This should come as no surprise since Massapequa’s offense averaged one of the highest point totals in the regular season based on that running attack. It will be a revamped roster next year with many contributing seniors graduating, which will mean opportunities for new contributors, the most intriguing question of course is who will take the helm as the new quarterback for the Sailors. Congratulations to the team on another great season. The students at OHS, and in the people in the community will undoubtedly be back to support the team next year.