Saturday's game between the undefeated Lynbrook Owls and heavy underdogs Floral Park had all the makings of a trap game for Lynbrook.
The game lived up to its billing with the Knights shutting out the Owls and pulling off a huge 7-0 upset over Lynbrook at Floral Park High School.
During the game both teams traded possessions back and forth with no points in the first three quarters of play. The game turned midway through the fourth quarter when Knights quarterback Alex Cerrone connected with Mike Nolan on a 34 yard pass play to get Floral Park into Owls territory. On the next play, running back Ronnell Jones ran for 35 yards and the only score of the game to put Floral Park up for good.
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Short of the pass play to Nolan, Jones was the focal point of the Knights offense rushing for 160 yards in the game.
“That play by Mike Nolan really inspired me to finish the job,” Jones said. “Knowing I was playing Lynbrook also inspired me to go even harder in the game.”
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The Owls had several golden opportunities to punch the ball into the end zone, but multiple drives broke down in the red zone and the Owls failed to get on the scoreboard.
Twice Lynbrook had the ball inside the 10-yard line -- once after a fumble recovery early in the first quarter and again after a 36 yard run by Rocco Sibelli late in the fourth quarter. Both times Lynbrook turned the ball over on downs.
“We were not good offensively all day and I blame myself for that,” Owls head coach Stephen LoCicero said.
Another major factor to the loss was penalties. Lynbrook committed multiple penalties that set them back throughout the course of the game. Penalties included a roughing the kicker, and multiple offsides and holding penalties to kill drives.
The nail in the coffin penalty was a too many men on the field call when Floral Park was ready to punt. The call resulted in a first down for the Knights and allowed them to run out the clock for the victory.
“Penalties hurt, they definitely got us out of rhythm in the game,” LoCicero said after the game.
Lynbrook will have to shake the upset off quickly as the defending Conference III champs host Hewlett on Thursday at 7 p.m.
