This story was written by Gary Simeone.
Long Beach headed into New Hyde Park Memorial Field on Saturday hoping to keep their undefeated record intact. The Marines succeeded, outscoring the Gladiators by 3 touchdowns for a 28-7 victory to give them a 5-0 mark in Conference II.
The Gladiators scored first when running back Bryan Baracaldo drove the ball into the end zone from the 2-yard line, and Chris Trasolini kicked the extra point to give the Gladiators the 7-0 lead, their only points in the game.
Long Beach stepped up their offense early in the second quarter when quarterback Adam Salvadori threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Chris Parler, followed by a successful 2-point conversion on a run from Matt Firpo for an 8-7 lead. Salvadori would follow up with a 53-yard bomb to sophomore Liam Rafferty; again getting the conversion on Parler’s run to lead 16-7 at the half.
The Marines drove the ball down into the New Hyde Park red zone on their first possession of the second half, as Salvadori tossed the ball to Parler on a fourth and goal play from the 15.
“It was a tough battle but we had a couple of big plays that really opened up the game for us,” Long Beach coach Scott Martin said. “Adam (Salvadori) and Chris (Parler) had great games and I thought our defense really stepped it up for us.”
Parler also scored on a running play late in the third for his third touchdown of the day to put the deficit at 28-7 in favor of the Marines. The sophomore had 5 receptions for 105 yards and 9 rushes for 48 yards for a total of 3 touchdowns in the game.
“We played a tough game against an undefeated team,” said New Hyde Park head coach Kevin Dolan. “They were just a better team than we were today. Now we have to collect ourselves and gear up and get ready for the next game.”
Long Beach (5-0) will host another undefeated team, Garden City, next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Long Beach Middle School.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
