BY GREGG SARRA
Many have debated the St. Anthony's -- Floyd question -- so who's better? You wouldn't have found the answer in Saturday's scrimmage that also included Wyandanch and Bellport.
First of all, who invited Wyandanch, and why? It's tough enough on the coaching staff over there to keep that team positive -- but that's like bringing the lambs to the slaughter.
And Bellport is no joke either. But sources tell me that Bellport is very young and had a tough time against the Friars and the Colonials. But Wyandanch??? There was nowhere else for the Warriors to get some quality practice time?
The sidelines were in complete contrast of one another. St. Anthony's came with an army of more than 90 players. Wyandanch may have had about 25. I give the Wyandanch coaching staff a tremendous amount of respect for accepting the invitation. I just hope none of those players -- especially the ones who were getting their first exposure to varsity action -- think all opponents are like Floyd, Bellport and St. Anthony's.
So who got the better of whom? Well, we're only talking about first-teamers here. A reliable source with no rooting interest felt the Floyd running game was shut down by St. Anthony's but quarterback Steve Murphy was able to throw the ball pretty well, despite some miserable weather.
And St. Anthony's, with some key players banged up [oh, there it is -- the first excuse, I apologize] was able to move the ball on the Floyd defense fairly well. All in all, a less spirited scrimmage than expected, a bit of a letdown because of the weather. St. Anthony's scored twice and Floyd found the end zone once during the first team scrimmage. But with all the rules and parameters put on such a practice, it was really just a tease of what would be a great game.
Please schedule a real non-league game for 2009 and have the proceeds go to a charitable organization. Now that's a plan. Hope all of you enjoyed the first day of scrimmages -- I did.