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Eato, Bay Shore blank Sachem East, 40-0
With playoff aspirations on the line, the Bay Shore Marauders came to play on Friday night.
Matthais Eato led the potent ground attack with 202 yards and four touchdowns as the Bay Shore Marauders won, 40-0, over the Sachem East Flaming Arrows celebrating Senior Night.
“Today was just a really great day for us. We worked really hard,” said the senior running back. “We worked really hard this week in practice. The scout team gave us great looks, and our coaches have been working our butts off all season.”
Bay Shore got the scoring going early in the game. Just four minutes into the quarter, Eato broke off a 44-yard run down his team’s sideline that brought the Marauders to the goal line. Following his long run, Eato polished off the drive with a 1-yard score following his blockers up the gut.
The score would remain 7-0 at the start of the second quarter, but that is where the Bay Shore offense and defense exploded.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Marauders scored four times, three of those on runs by Eato and one via the air with Jake Sheets connecting with Joel Nunez for a 26-yard touchdown pass as the clock expired. Eato found the end zone on TD runs of 1, 37, and 39.
“It felt great, but now I’m just tired,” Eato says, “I started cramping up in the third quarter, but it was definitely worth it.”
On the defensive end, Sachem East was unable to muster many solid offensive opportunities throughout the entirety of the game. A large part due to the fact that the Flaming Arrows were without the eighth leading rusher on Long Island, Steven Casali.
Casali who has 923 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the season was not cleared to play following a concussion he sustained in Sachem East’s 47-6 loss to Connetquot a week prior.
The result for Sachem East was present as the Marauder defense held the Arrows to their lowest scoring output this season, and had not been shutout since October 22, 2011.
“The defense did a great job,” said Matthais Eato’s younger brother, Simeon. “Everyone was in their gaps and everyone just completed their assignments.”
The win for Bay Shore improves their record to 3-4, while Sachem East falls to 3-4. The victory keeps alive playoff dreams the Marauders would like to make a reality, but face a pivotal Week 8 matchup with Patchogue-Medford next week.
“It means so much,” says Matthais. “It was a big win for us heading into homecoming next week, and we need one more game before we make playoffs. We are just really excited right now.
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