MASSAPEQUA WINS NASSAU
TOUCH FOOTBALL LEAGUE TITLE

PONIES COMPLETE UNLIKELY TITLE RUN

BUCS STOP PANTHERS

by Jerry Beach

NCTFL Report

           There were plenty of reasons why the Massapequa Stallions couldn't win the NCTFL Super Bowl this season .  Way back in August, the league's official website asked users to predict the eventual champion, and the Stallions finished dead last with a measly four votes our of the 157 cast.
           The Stallions wee too young at some positions, too old at others and unable to match the total talent possessed by teams such as the Manhasset Steelers and Malverne Bills.  And in the midst of a .500 regular season which seemed to confirm the doubts of all those around them, even the Stallions' supremely confident coach and quarterback, Dennis Oehl, admitted the team was too inconsistent and too disjointed.
          But in the end, the team told all season it was too-something-or other to win a title  was too good to be stopped.
           Oehl, in what was likely the final game of his storied 20-year career, directed the Stallions to an efficient and satisfying 26-14 win over the East Meadow Seasons in Super Bowl XXV December 110 at Mitchell Stadium.  It is the first championship for the Stallions franchise since 1993, although several members of this year's Stallions were on the Merrick Mavericks club which won three straight titles form 1994-96.
           Oehl played on both the Stallions and the Mavericks, and the Stallions' victory gives Oehl eight titles in 12 championship game appearances.  Oehl's MVP performance (three TD's passing, one rushing) didn't rank among his most dominating and the Stallions aren't the best team he's ever played on, especially when compared to the Mavericks and the Stallions of the 90's, each of whom rank among the best teams in NCTFL history.
           But this championship showing might have been Oehl's most satisfying one.  "The first one is always the sweetest, but I have to say this last one is the best because it wasn't expected," said Oehl, an emotional player who punctuated each of the Stallions' TD's with an extended raise of the arms over his head.  "I was a little bit more animated,
           The Stallions looked like a team in transition at the beginning of the season, a squad which featured some outstanding veteran leaders in, among others, Oehl, Tommy Metzger, John Bilello, Tim Villari and Mike Andrea and some promising young talent in Rob Smith, Jarrod Lanning, Danny Metzger and Jason Saccone.  But the feast-or-famine makeup of the team contributed to an often uninspiring regular season, and there were many times the Stallions didn't know who was going to show up -- literally and figuratively.
           "We had injuries (and) commitment (problems)," Oehl said.  "We never had the same team on the field the whole season."
          Things got so bad for the Stallions that they were shutout three times in a five-week span, including twice at the hands for the Seasons.  "I knew that we had been on and off, we had been okay at times and then we'd get shutout," Oehl said.  "But we had to make the playoffs and roll the dice."
           The Stallions were the last of the four seeds in Division I but came up all sixes in the postseason.  in the opening round, they stunned the Manhasset Steelers, the three time defending champions who had won 25 straight games. The Stallions and Seasons had to wait three weeks to play the Super Bowl due to a scheduled bye week and a rain out, but the Stallions remained focused and took advantage of the opportunities presented to them early on.            
     "We showed up early and ready to play this game," Oehl said.  "We were there at 12 o'clock (for a 1 o'clock game) ready to go, warming up.  If we showed up like that for every game we would have been 8-2 and everything would have been totally different."
           The Seasons were ready to play as well but were done in by their red zone mistakes on offense.  East Meadow failed to take advantage of two separate first-and-goals inside the 20 and turned the ball over on downs both time, and quarterback Mark Horak threw a pair of costly interceptions inside the Stallions' 25, including a killer pick with less than three minutes left in the game which ended a potential game-tying drive for the Seasons.
           "On offenses we lost three or four (chances) to capitalize," longtime Seasons coach Bob Murray said.  "The Stallions are a veteran team and they took advantage of our mistakes." The Stallions, meanwhile, committed just one turnover and played a conservative yet effective brand of ball on offense.  "We stayed the course, we weren't going to beat ourselves," Oehl said.  "We've been there before, the way to win that game was to score points early and make the other team come after you, and I think they forced the ball down there a couple times."
           The Stallions notched their two most important scores after they stifled the Seasons inside the 20.  In the third quarter, with Stallions ahead 13-6, Horak scrambled 15 yards on a 4th-and-1 to give the Seasons a 1st-and-goal at the four.  But Horak was sacked on first down by Tom Steinbach, dropped the snap on second down and threw an incomplete pass on third down.  On 4th-and-goal from the 17, Horak was pursued by Tim O'Hagen and threw an incomplete pass intended for center Al Ferriso.
           Oehl and the Stallions then went on an eight play, 83-yard drive which consumed more than six minutes.  Oehl capped it with a three-yard TD pass to Danny Metzger which extended the Stallions' lead to 19-6 with 1:14 to
           The Seasons got the TD back early in the fourth to close within 19-12 and took over at the Stallions' 46 with 5:41 to play after a poor punt by the Stallions.  Again, Horak converted a huge fourth down play -- this on a 14-yard completion to a sliding Mark McDermott on a 4th-and-1 --to give the Seasons a first down at the Stallions' 23, but Saccone picked Horak off tow plays later and returned it to the Seasons' 47.
          Oehl was sacked on the next play and the Seasons jumped offside on the next play, but Oehl delivered the knockout blow on the next play when he connected with Andrea on a 46-yard-catch-and-run TD which gave the Stallions a 26-12 lead with 1:50 left.
    "(The defense) stepped up late," Oehl said.  "They didn't give them much, we might have bent but we didn't break."
            The Stallions wasted no time in getting on the board as they drove 73 yards in just five plays on their opening possession.  Oehl completed consecutive passes of 28 and 26 yards to Villari and Andrea before he scrambled 12 yards around left end for a touch down to give the Stallions a 6-0 lead.
           The Seasons then ate up more than eight minutes on their first possession, but, in a foreboding sign of tings to come, they failed to get on the scoreboard.  Horak connected with John Pereyo for a 20-yard gain on 4th-and-12 to set up a first-and-goal at the Stallions' 10, but Horak's next four passes fell incomplete and the Stallions took over on downs.
           Midway through the second quarter, the Stallions took advantage of a fourth-and-goal inside the 10 when Oehl's seven-yard TD pass to Villari coupled with a roughing the passer penalty against the Stallions gave the Seasons a first down at the Stallions' 25, but Stallions safety Kirk Blagrove picked off Horak two passes later.
           Any change in momentum was quickly snuffed out, though, when Brian Murray intercepted Oehl on the next on the next drive and returned it to the Stallions' 34.  Three plays later, Horak  tossed an 11-yard TD pass to an open Al Ferriso in the left corner of the end zone to cut the Stallions' lead to 13-6.
          The Seasons made it a game again early in the fourth, when, down 19-6, Horak tossed a 15-yard TD pass to McDermott to close the gap to 19-12.  The Stallions went three-and-out on their next possession, but Horak threw the ill-timed pick on the Seasons' next possession and the Stallions went on to notch an insurance score.
           Bob Murray was disappointed with the loss, but the Seasons' campaign was still satisfying considering they are only three years removed from Division II.  And the Super Bowl defeat wasn't all bad considering it has likely convinced co-captains and two-decade vets Ferriso and Mike Brostowski to come back next year and give it another whirl.
           "The loss was a positive thing, it keeps the old nucleus of old guys together," Bob Murray said with a chuckle.  "Yup, they'll be back."
          As for Oehl, he said some Seasons implored him to come back