Coming off somewhat of a down year, Seaford is ready to return to powerhouse status.
And running back Brian Falk is ready to carry the Vikings a long way. The senior rushed for 136 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries to lead host Seaford to a 40-7 win over West Hempstead in a Nassau Conference IV football opener Friday night.
Falk entered the game 41 yards shy of 3,000 career rushing yards. He had five carries for 54 yards on the Vikings’ opening drive, which ended with the 6-2, 195-pound back running in a 12-yard TD.
“In the long run, I haven’t really thought much about my total yards. I just found out a week ago that I was 41 yards away,” Falk said. “Three thousand yards is a huge milestone. It means everything. So now, I’m trying to go for 3,500 and then 4,000.”
Falk’s final carry of the day was a 36-yard TD run that gave the Vikings a 26-7 lead with 8:27 left in the game. On Seaford’s ensuing drive, Falk hauled in a 35-yard pass from Michael Spinella to set up Michael Calvacca’s 17-yard TD run.
“Seaford football has always been a big running back town,” coach Mike McHugh said. “We’ve had some great running backs with Danny Roell, Thomas Viscio, my son James McHugh, and Falk has just carried on that tradition. He’s a hard-nosed, downhill runner and when he gets outside, he’s gonna turn that speed on and you’re not gonna catch him.”
Following Falk’s opening drive score, Matthew Kind forced a fumble that was recovered on Seaford’s 35 by Giancarlo Belgiorno. One play later, Spinella found Mark Villeck in the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 13-0 lead with 3:32 left in the first quarter.
West Hempstead answered with an impressive 17-play, 58-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Leonides Papangelopoulos to Jamir Houston. Trailing 13-7 at halftime, the Rams received the opening kickoff of the second half and had a chance to take the lead and make a statement.
But Seaford’s defense tightened up. The Vikings allowed just one first down in the second half.
“Last year, that was one of our weak points,” Kind said. “We would give up a long drive and get scored on and it would take long to bounce back. Today, we were able to focus and get right back to the next play.”
After winning the Nassau IV title in 2023, the Vikings went 4-4 in last year’s regular season and lost to Plainedge in the semifinals. Looking for more consistency this season, Seaford will host Cold Spring Harbor at 6 p.m. next Friday.
“The momentum we’re gonna have all week is just gonna push us even harder to take down Cold Spring Harbor,” Falk said. “They’re a good team. This was definitely a good opener for us. It’s good to get back out here and, set the tone and show the rest of Conference IV that we’re back.”
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