GI edged at Starpoint, 3-0

Story and photo by Larry Austin
Grand Island Dispatch, September 29, 2006

Christian Nestark, 53, and Jason Voltz, 10, of GI make a tackle.

Chris Monaco’s 20-yard field goal in the fourth quarter provided Starpoint with a 3-0 win over Grand Island Saturday.

Turnovers, sacks, penalties and dropped passes slowed the normally efficient Vikings offense.

“Dean is probably one of the best coaches,” said Starpoint defensive coordinator Tim Racey of Grand Island coach Dean Santorio. “It’s just a machine. They execute with precision.”

That didn’t happen Saturday.

“We had opportunities and just didn’t execute,” lamented Santorio. “The couple turnovers we had were absolutely deadly.”

Santorio said when the Vikings had the ball deep in Starpoint territory late in the game, trailing 3-0, they had to find a way to punch it in. A screen pass from Joe Oliverio to Mike Scappechio to the Spartans’ 5 yard line was called back on a penalty. Sacks and penalties pushed GI backwards and they gave up the ball on downs with 5:25 remaining.

“You can’t do that and expect to win a game,” Santorio said.

Santorio said he didn’t think the Vikings blocked well in the first half.

“We couldn’t get anything going offensively,” he added. Santorio replaced starting quarterback Matt Klock with Joe Oliverio in the second half, but offense still sputtered. “We didn’t give Matt enough pass protection. We didn’t give Joe enough pass protection.”

GI plays tonight at Lewiston-Porter in the Lancers’ Homecoming game.
Santorio said he expects the same type of game from the Lancers as from the Spartans, a tough, physical defensive game.