One year ago, the Farmingdale Dalers took a rough loss on their home turf that many of the returning players didn’t forget. The Dalers took on their rival the Massapequa Chiefs and suffered a huge loss by a score of 56-21. However, this year was different and the Dalers avenged their loss on Saturday, October 22nd. “Coach says every game is big,” Farmingdale junior quarterback Nick Lundin said. “This is the biggest.”

As the Dalers confidently stepped onto the Chiefs’ turf, all that was going through their heads was the 56 points that they allowed  on their home turf just one year ago. As pre-game came to a conclusion, it was go time. The Chiefs returned the opening kick and out trotted Kenny Galvin, the Massapequa quarterback. The Dalers defense, led by senior captain Sean Sullivan, was fired up and forced the Chiefs to punt the football on the opening drive. The start of the game was a dog fight until the Chiefs  struck first with a touchdown that was run in by quarterback Kenny Galvin. The Chiefs thought they had all the momentum from striking first, but that wasn’t the case for them. Starting Dalers running back Kevin Wilson, on his way to a 30-yard touchdown, took the spotlight by dragging defenders with him into the endzone. Star player Garrett Gibbons of the Chiefs caught a pass over the middle of the field and took off for a few yards. Then he was finally wrapped up by Tyler DiBlasi, the Farmingdale safety, and as he was falling down Cornerback Glavins Hogarth stripped him of the ball, and the Dalers recovered the football. That forced fumble by Captain Glavins Hogarth was a game-changer, as it led to yet another Dalers touchdown from the connection between Nick Lundin and Rich Hickis on a spectacular one-handed snag on fourth and ten. The momentum continued  on the Dalers’ drive as they got the ball back and drove down the field again and scored yet another touchdown from Nick Lundin on a 1-yard QB sneak. Farmingdale was making a statement taking a 21-7 lead, as the rest of the half consisted of another touchdown for both teams.

As the Dalers marched back on the field for the second half they had all the momentum. They scored on a 64-yard touchdown run by Kevin Wilson yet again. The game started to turn around and the 34-13 lead was cut down to 34-27. However,  Nick Lundin and Rich Hickis connected yet again for an 18-yard touchdown, as this time Hickis “Moss’d” his receiver on a jump ball in the endzone. The Dalers took a 41-27 lead.

The scoring was over for both teams and when the game was over the Farmingdale Dalers did what they intended to do and that was to beat the rival Chiefs. “It played out pretty much the way we intended it to,” Coach Krumenacker said. “We knew we needed to throw the football, and we did that successfully, and you’ve always got to run it, and Kevin Wilson had a great day running it.” Of course junior running back Kevin Wilson shined and put together 23 caries for 207 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wilson knew he was a big part to the victory and was just happy he could help his team win in such a big game. “We were just trying to pound the ball. We were running as hard as we could. This is just an amazing win. It’s almost unbelievable.”  

Coach Buddy Krumenacker was happy with the performance from his young team but he knows not to get ahead of himself.“We were able to win today, but if we played them tomorrow, maybe they’d win,” he  said. “It was a great matchup I thought.” The spotlight was all on Nick Lundin, as he was 9 for 17 with 163 yards and 2 passing touchdowns, but he didn’t take all the credit. He gave thanks to his offensive line and of course Rich Hickis on two monster plays. “Our offensive line had a huge game and Rich just played like a monster,” said Lundin.

The game for Farmingdale was a quality win as they improved to 2-1 on the season.  Now the Dalers are currently 5-2 and are ready to take on their playoff run.

* Photo Courtesy of Lifetouch