Longwood coach Chris Meyer knows the facts.
His team is the No. 7 seed in the 2009 Suffolk
Division 1 playoffs and needs to play a quarterfinal
game Saturday afternoon at second-seeded William
Floyd in Mastic Beach.
The Lions (4-4) have won four in a row, but the
Colonials (7-1) have a seven-game winning streak. In
addition, William Floyd has won 10 of the last 11
meetings against Longwood.
"I figured, if we wanted to win a championship,
we would have to beat Floyd to do it," said Meyer.
"So opening up with them is fine by us. Both teams
are very talented. We have to limit our mistakes to
win. And I think the team with the fewest mistakes
will win the game."
Since the two high schools are only eight miles
apart, many players know each other and talk. The
William Floyd seniors know they have never lost to
the Lions. The Longwood seniors are eager and
motivated to beat Floyd for the first time.
"We need to come out with lots of emotion and I
know my kids will," said Meyer. "They don't need me
yelling at them to get up for the game. They know
how big this is. I do think this is an upset (if
Longwood wins). They're the No. 2 seed and we're
the No. 7. No one expects us to win. That's OK by
us."
The Lions have made an impressive comeback after
a 29-15 setback at William Floyd on Oct. 3. At that
point, Longwood was 0-4. The team, typically, played
one strong half and one poor half. Its hopes for a
third-straight trip to the playoffs for Meyer were
in doubt..
During the last half of the regular season,
however, the Lions surged. Longwood beat
Ward-Melville 41-21, Patchogue-Medford 27-7,
Lindenhurst 27-22 and Sachem East 44-23.
Meyer finally saw the team the coaches listed No.
3 in the preseason ratings for the 12-team Division
1.
"We are better fundamentally on defense than we
were the first four games," said Meyer. "Players are
buying into the system and are starting to play the
way we thought they would."
When versatile senior Walter Miles recovered from
an injury, the Lions regained a potent scoring
threat. Miles, who scored 11 touchdowns as a junior,
produced two TDs, including the game-winning points
when Longwood rallied to beat Lindenhurst. Last
weekend, Miles sparkled with a 90-yard kickoff
return to the end zone, a 66-yard TD run and a
43-yard touchdown pass against Sachem East (1-7).
"Miles is finally healthy," said Meyer. "He
brings speed, power and the ability to break a run
for a touchdown any time he touches the ball. Miles
is also a very good cornerback for us and plays on
all the special teams.
"When you lose a player like Walter for a couple
of games, it hurts."
Miles and two other talented runners, Tommy Scala
and Sherif Saad, will challenge best scoring defense
in Suffolk County. The Colonials have given up only
69 points in eight games, and they shut out their
last two opponents.
Besides Miles, Meyer plans to start six other
young men both ways on Saturday: Scala also plays
free safety and Sherif plays linebacker. Cody
Callagy plays guard and linebacker; Darius Greens
goes at center and defensive tackle. Marc Mobley
plays guard and defensive tackle. Dom Desroaches
contributes at tight end and linebacker.
"Saad is our leading tackler with 63 tackles and
he has five sacks," said Meyer. "Callagy, for the
second season in a row, has been our most consistent
blocker. Paul Samuels has been our most dedicated
player this year, and he starts at linebacker for
us. He is also involved in the defensive scout
teams. Samuels enjoys making our offense better and
getting under their skin."
Meyer owns a 19-9 overall record (2-2 in the
playoffs) in his three seasons as Longwood head
coach. Meyer is well known to Floyd folks. He was
once an assistant coach to Floyd head coach Paul
Longo and he is currently a teacher at William Floyd
Middle School.
In addition to advancing to the Suffolk
semifinals, Longwood will also try to stop William
Floyd from achieving a major distinction. If the
Colonials win Saturday, they will become one of the
few Long Island prep teams to win 50 games during a
five-year span.
Longo's teams have won 55 of their last 56
regular-season games. The Colonials are a combined
49-2 the last five seasons.
