Ending the season in a playoff loss against Wantagh last year, the Owls went into the offseason with many open spots on the team. The departure of the class of 2023 took major factors to success with them on both sides of the ball. Lynbrook may have faced these challenges heading into the offseason, but they were not apparent at Friday night’s win over Bethpage, as everything clicked for the Owls to win their season opener.
Regarding the departure of last year’s seniors, Ramon Calderon, a senior, remarked, “The older guys mentored and paved the way for us. Now it’s easy to just go out there and have fun because we know what we have to do.”
Senior Michael Hendrickson, who played cornerback last season but transitioned into a running back-cornerback dual threat, commented, “This year, we had three returning starts from last year, and in the offseason…, everyone prepared and studied everything that they needed to learn, so we all went into Week 1 knowing our responsibilities and knowing what we needed to do at every position.”
Lynbrook, which finished last season on a three-game winning streak prior to the season-ending loss, started off the game with a great drive down the field. A facemask penalty against the Golden Eagles set Calderon up nicely for his first of two touchdowns to help Lynbrook jump to an early lead.
On the very next play, Bethpage responded with a 75-yard touchdown over the middle of the field that left the Lynbrook defense searching for answers. A mistake from the defense allowed Bethpage to jump right back into the game, but a missed field goal following the touchdown left Lynbrook with a one-point lead with nine minutes remaining.
Watching Lynbrook’s mistake and Bethpage’s subsequent touchdown from the sidelines was head coach David Yaker, who helped the Lynbrook defense stay in the game following the play. He recounted, “Our response to our own mistakes will ultimately define our entire season. We had a breakdown in coverage, but we never wavered or faltered; we just stayed the course.” The Lynbrook defense held the Golden Eagles’ offense to only one other end zone trip in the first half, shutting them out and securing Lynbrook’s win.
Lynbrook’s response came in the form of a fourth-and-15 conversion in the following drive from Calderon, followed by Hendrickson punching it into the end zone to increase their lead with a minute remaining in the first quarter.
The second quarter did not offer much in terms of scoring. Both teams only reached the end zone once, Bethpage being the latter scorer to set itself up with something to work with in the second half.
The Owls came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, starting off with a touchback from senior Patrick O’Doherty on the kickoff to help Lynbrook jumpstart an impressive performance in the final half of play to help put the game on ice.
Lynbrook’s first drive following halftime ended with a 31-yard touchdown run from Hendrickson, who broke consecutive tackles on the way to the end zone. Calderon got into the backfield on the fourth down of the following drive to help eliminate any resistance Bethpage had in the end.
Calderon topped off his day with a 15-yard option run into the end zone, helping Lynbrook close the game out with a 35-13 win to start the season.
While the running game was a large part of Lynbrook’s success on Thursday night, there were other components to the game that supported the Owls’ game plan. Senior Maxson Weiss threw the ball five times, picking up two completions for 65 yards. Senior Amah Agwu caught one of those catches for 30 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Bethpage struggled to get past a dominant rush on the front line. Senior Sebastian Ibanez and juniors Frank Sirufo and Omarion McClean had two sacks each.
The Owls left Bethpage High School with a 1-0 record to start the season, completing an upset that few saw coming. Hendrickson was proud of the team’s victorious performance. “Being the underdog lights a fire under us. We don’t listen to anybody, we know who we are, we know what we are capable of doing out on the field, whether others doubt us or not,” said Hendrickson. The cornerback-turned-running back finished his night with a team-leading 176 yards and three touchdowns.
Calderon, who ended with 133 total yards and six tackles, was ecstatic following the victory. “[Seeing all the off-season work pay off] means the world to me. I’ve been working all years through high school for a start like this, and I hope to continue.”
Lynbrook returns to action on Thursday, September 14 in its home opener against the Valley Stream North Spartans (0-1). The Owls will look to start the season off 2-0 for the first time ever under second-year head coach David Yaker. Yaker said, “It’s very difficult to get ready for a tough opponent in a short week. It requires focus and attention. We need to remain focused on the task at hand, and we are always looking for guys to step up and help out. I believe we will get that.”
