It’s been a two-year process to get to this point for Sachem East, and riding their horse Steven Casali has paid off. Brick by brick. Sachem East has learned from its past – a 1-15 stretch prior to its current run of success – and built a foundation for the program to live off for years to come.
Having the best player in the county pays dividends and that means a shot at winning a championship. That shot will come Sunday at 11 a.m. when the Arrows take on William Floyd in the Division I final. Winner goes on to the Class I Long Island championship the following weekend at Hofstra University.
Floyd presents one of the most balanced squads on Long Island and packs a strong passing game from A.J. Otranto, along with a hard ground attack from Chris Faison and a defense with linebackers who hit like high level college players.
Sachem East, while led by Casali at running back and linebacker, does have a viable passing game with quarterback Danny Wolff and receivers Brian Balsamo and Ryan Dippel. We saw what the passing game was capable of last week, leading the Arrows to an improbable last-second victory compliments of “The Catch.”
Sachem East and Floyd played one another during the regular season, with the Colonials (8-2) getting the better of the Arrows (6-4).
“They’re just an all around solid team,” Wolff said of this week’s opponent. “If we can contain the pass and run and on offense just move the ball and help out our defense, it should be a good ball game just like in Week 2. We have a different game plan and hopefully it works out our way this time.”
It’s no surprise what kind of game plan Sachem East will bring to the table. They’ve gotten this far behind Casali, and they’ll ride the beast at Stony Brook.
“We’re going to give the ball to Steve as much as we have to, but we have to be able to throw the ball,” said Sachem East coach Mark Wojciechowski. “If you can’t throw the ball, you don’t have a shot at winning. They play great defense. The quarterback is tough, he runs well and makes things happen. We have to contain him and if we got a shot to tackle him, we have to tackle him.”
Casali and his teammates have been running with the motto “four more weeks,” “three more weeks,” “two more weeks,” and they hope, “one more week,” weeding down the time they have left for the ultimate championship season.
“You have to play every play like it’s your last, because you never know when it’s going to end and I never want my Sachem career to be over,” Casali said. “Sachem is a family. It’s been the best four years of my life. Coach Woj came here and turned this program around and I’m proud to say that I was a part of the team that made a foundation here at Sachem East.”
That foundation would settle with one more brick on Sunday, a championship brick.
Related Links
Fred Fusaro lending guidance, support to Sachem East
Game to air on MSG Varsity on tape delay
VIDEO: Steven Casali talks playoff football
VIDEO: Ryan Dippel talks playoff football
VIDEO: Danny Wolff talks playoff football
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro