The crowd was filled to the gills with fans of the Massapequa Chiefs. Blue and gold were everywhere you looked. Finding any red and white in the crowd was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
At Massapequa’s homecoming game, the Chiefs were defeated by the Freeport Red Devils 14 to 41.
One of the highlights for the Chiefs during the game was a 70-yard touchdown run by Michael Barry, pushing all the way through the Red Devils’ defense to score.
“It was awesome,” Barry said. “We decided to go with our wildcat package to see what we could get with that, and I broke that run. Our team needed it.”
Although this touchdown still left the team 27 points back, with the game basically out of reach, it still kept the team up and the fans were still cheering.
A 55-yard TD pass from Ryan Neu to Ian Lukaszewicz in the second quarter was the other Massapequa touchdown during the game.
“We ran a slide and up play that was well covered, so I bought a little more time by stepping up in the pocket and then scrambling to my left,” said Neu. “I saw Ian beat the safety, so I just put it up and he did the rest.”
“We were looking to hit a homerun and throw a deep ball to Robbie Chiocco, but they had him well covered,” said Lukaszewicz. “I saw Ryan get flushed out of the pocket and to my side of the field, so I cut my route deeper and got behind the defense. Ryan saw me and put out a perfect ball. I was able to catch it in stride and get into the end zone. It was great vision by Ryan and a great ball.”
Lukaszewicz also did a great job returning kickoffs during the game, including one that was just short of the 50-yard line.
“Kick returns went very well,” said Lukaszewicz. “The front nine guys gave great blocks. Our return average was really good and it consistently gave us good field position.”
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, turnovers plagued them throughout the game, including two passes from Ryan Neu that were intercepted, one by Cedrik Smiley in the redzone during the first drive of the game and another by Jeff Williams on the Chiefs’ first drive of the second half.
“Both interceptions were just stupid mistakes by me,” said Neu. “On both I tried to force a throw I shouldn’t have and it ended up costing us, but you learn from it for the future and move on.”
Freeport had a stunning offensive game, scoring six touchdowns throughout the game. Maurice Irby was the star of the game for the Red Devils, rushing for three touchdowns and 143 yards. Freeport quarterback Isaiah Barnes accumulated two passing touchdowns during the game as well, one to Jere Brown and another to Dan Olivier.
For Massapequa, their strong offensive line was something to take notice of. The line only allowed one sack and relieved pressure on Ryan Neu during the game.
“The offensive line played well,” said quarterback Ryan Neu. “They gave me all the time I could’ve asked for and blocked well for the runs.”
The densive players of the game for the Chiefs had to be Rich Staubitz, who accumulated 14 tackles during the game, and Rich Ruiz who had two sacks on the game and 11 tackles.
With the loss, Massapequa is brought down to 2-2 on the season. Although the team lost its first game of the season in a blowout to Oceanside 34-7, the Chiefs won the next two. Their first win came against Hempstead with four rushing touchdowns by Michael Barry, all of which were 25+ yard runs. During the second, Ryan Neu took over as QB and transferred over to the passing game, throwing no interceptions and three touchdowns, two of which Steve Romano received.
It looks like the quarterback situation between Mike Barry and Ryan Neu has been resolved for the remainder of the season. Neu will be the starting quarterback with Barry being the wildcat quarterback.
“We’re both going to lead this team and carry it where it needs to go,” said Neu.
Although the Chiefs suffered a bad loss in their homecoming game, the fans had a lot to enjoy from the marching band playing “Viva la Vida” and “Don’t Stop Believing” to the Chiefettes and Cheerleaders during the introduction of the homecoming court.
“We had great team spirit even though we didn’t get the results we had hoped for,” said Massapequa fan Joe Ibraham. “It’s just important now to focus on the next game and continue to show support for our Massapequa Chiefs.”
Massapequa’s next game will be Saturday, October 9, where they will travel to Plainview JFK High School as they look to go to 3-2 on the season.
“We gotta work hard at practice this week,” said Lukaszewicz. “It really all starts with that. If we work hard and push ourselves at practice and then play as an eleven-man unit next Saturday, we’ll bounce back.”