Garden City Trojans Claim Class II County Championship

It was a game that lived up to the worthiness of a county championship as Garden City and Wantagh battled back and forth to the very end with Garden City holding onto the victory 21-17 after a  game closing interception by senior Spencer Bias.

“That’s what won us the game was our defense,” Quarterback Brett Stewart said.

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Stewart himself had two touchdowns on the day including a 61-yard pass to Bias.

At the start of the second half Wantagh had led 10-7 and it seemed that they might be on their way to the upset victory when they picked off Stewart on first play of the third quarter. The interception would ultimately lead to a Brandon Watson touchdown to give the Warriors a 17-7 lead.

Garden City would answer with Stewart's second score of the day and the game would turn when the Trojans recovered a Wantagh fumble during the following kick off. The turnover would lead to an 11-yard Justin Guterding rushing touchdown and give the Trojans a 21-17 lead.

“We were able to get good field position all day and made it easier for our offense to score,” Garden City coach Tom Flatley said.

Following a Wantagh turnover midway through the fourth quarter it appeared Garden City had the game in full control as they drove down the field into the Wantagh red zone. They were on the doorstep of another score until Wantagh captain Peter Brasile got an interception and gave the Warriors life.

Wantagh would get the ball into Garden City territory with a little over a minute remaining but would fall short when Bias picked off quarterback Gerard Roche and gave Garden City the county title.

“These are the greatest kids in the world,” Wantagh coach Keith Sachs said.  “They played their butts off to the end to the very end, two even teams and they got a couple points better than us.”


With the county title in its hands, Garden City will look to finish with a Long Island title against Riverhead at Stony Brook University Saturday.

Story by Robert Rollins