Henry Gibbons said he was in the right place at the right time. But others might see it as the junior midfielder finding a way to turn nothing into something.
He scored the game-tying goal for Garden City with 30 seconds left in the third, and opened the fourth with the go-ahead goal in the Trojans’ 9-6 win over Suffolk County’s Comsewogue for the Long Island Class B crown. The win at Hofstra University Saturday marks Garden City’s (17-2) fourth title in the last five seasons.
“I had a lucky goal that got us back in it,” Gibbons said. “But it was nice — we just stayed up after that. It was a lot of fun, and it’s nice to win again.”
The contest was also a rematch of last season’s battle for the championship plaque, which Garden City won, 5-1. So, the game was contentious from the start.
Comsewogue senior midfielder Thomas Kennedy was hit hard early, and the game was paused for nearly 45 minutes before he was transported via ambulance to a nearby hospital. Warriors head coach Pete Mitchell said after the game that Kennedy was awake, speaking and moving, while undergoing further evaluation.
Out of the break Garden City scored back-to-back goals, and outpaced Comsewogue (13-6) 2-1 in the second quarter for a 4-1 halftime lead. But the Warriors battles back, with junior midfielder Justin Bonacci finding senior attack Michael Katz twice, sandwiching a junior midfielder James Krieg strike for a 5-4 Comsewogue lead.
But it only lasted a minute, as Gibbons, who also scored the final goal of the game, knotted things at 5-all with 30 seconds left in the third, and hit his mark at the 9:36 mark before junior midfielder Stevie Finnell and senior attack Mike Fargione (one goal, two assists) padded the lead.
“We thought they were going to come out in a zone, and they came out man-to-man, but we just kept playing our game,” Gibbons said. “We knew we couldn’t let them get too low on us, and that’s what we did.”
The junior said he was happy to be able to create opportunities to contribute.
“I was dodging the shorties and getting the slide to get some good dunks,” he said. “I had a rough start at the beginning of the year, so it’s nice to get to this point.”
Katz racked up four goals for Comsewogue, Bonacci recorded three assists and sophomore midfielder Dylan Rocchio added a goal and an assist.
Garden City senior defenseman Brendan Staub and junior defender Cole Webber shared the James C. Metzger MVP award. Senior attack Luke Schmitt finished with two goals for Garden City.
“Going into this game we knew it was going to be hard,” he said. “But we knew we had to be tough.”
Head coach Steve Finnell, Stevie’s father, said his expectations are always high, but that his student-athletes continue to exceed them.
Garden City advances to the Class B state semifinals against Rye on Wednesday at the University at Albany. Should the Trojans win, they’ll play in the final Saturday, June 11, back at Hofstra.
“I think these guys wanted to put their stamp on it, and they did,” Finnell said. “They’ve done a great job.”
