The Waves are fired up and ready to roll.
That’s the word from Head Coach Leif Shay on the eve of the final game of the 2012 season, which pits Riverhead (9-2) against Garden City (10-1) for the Class II L.I. Championship.
Kickoff is at high noon at Stony Brook’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, where the Waves pummeled the North Babylon Bulldogs last weekend, 52-20.
The Waves are looking to repeat that performance against a team that just notched its fourth consecutive Nassau County title.
“They’re a solid football team,” Shay said Friday, after watching tapes all week of the Trojans’ march to the championship.
But the Nassau County champs have had a rough time beating their Suffolk counterparts in the LIC, falling to Newfield in 2011 by a score of 14-7 and to Bellport in 2010, 26-21. In 2009, they won the LIC by defeating North Babylon 9-6.
“We have to be able to run the ball to beat them,” Shay said. “We are a little bit bigger then they are up front, and we have to take advantage of it.”
The Waves will look to junior running back Jeremiah Cheatom to move the ball down field. Cheatom has rushed for 1,674 yards and 12 touchdowns this year, third on Long Island.
But don’t count out the passing game of senior quarterback Ryan Bitzer. Bitzer is 116 of 188 on the season, for 1,836 yards and 17 TDs. His game improved as the season progressed. Last week Bitzer turned in his best performance of 2012; he went 13 of 19 for 292 yards and four touchdowns.
Bitzer’s favorite target is the No.1 receiver on L.I.: senior wide receiver Quinn Funn, who needs just 43 more yards to break 1,000 this season. He comes into the championship game with 49 receptions for 958 yards and 14 TDs.
Riverhead has outscored Garden City with a season tally of 353 points to Garden City’s 292 as of last weekend.
Shay said the team is counting on the community to “come out, be loud and get us pumped up.”
It’s the Waves first trip to the LIC since 2008, when Miguel Maysonet led Riverhead to a 12-0 perfect season and the Rutgers Trophy.
Bitzer and Funn played together on the Riverhead Middle School football team that year. Their team compiled a 6-0 record and they’ve always dreamed of leaving the high school with a legacy like the storied season of ’08, Bitzer said in an interview after last week’s big county-title win.
“I know we can,” Bitzer said.
LIVE coverage from LaValle Stadium beginning at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, with action photos from the field. Click here.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella
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