SWR flag football routs Kings Park to capture Suffolk Class C title in its first season

The Shoreham-Wading River girls flag football team put together an unprecedented inaugural season. And the scary part is, the Wildcats keep getting better.

SWR won the Suffolk County Class C championship Wednesday at Sachem East High School — and it wasn’t even close. No. 4 Kings Park, which previously upset No. 1 John Glenn in the semifinals, had no magic left as the Wildcats ran away with a 34-0 victory.

“Just by how we’ve been playing recently I had a feeling it would finish this way today,” SWR head coach Bob DeSilva said. “But I was still nervous, you know. I had to make sure we executed and we did a great job of doing that all game long.”

Shoreham-Wading River’s defense got on the field first and forced a three-and-out to set the tone. Then, much like she has done all season, junior quarterback Shealyn Varbero found the end zone.

On fourth-and-short, Varbero ran a blast to get across the first-down marker. As she passed it, her patented spin move came out. Realizing her flag had never been pulled, she took it all the way to the end zone for the first score of the game.

“We came into the game prepared,” Varbero said. “We have been watching film and felt really comfortable going into this game. Coach did a great job this week with the game plan to make it easier on us.”

Varbero then hauled in an interception on the following defensive possession from her safety spot to shut down another Kings Park push.

“Our defense came to play today,” DeSilva said. “Three interceptions, three sacks, and a goose egg on the board. Can’t ask for much more than that.”

Varbero ended the game with two interceptions. Brenna Molinelli had the other. Gia Politi led the team with two sacks and Marisa Cacciola added another. Mia Mangano, a menace in the middle at linebacker, led the team with nine flag pulls.

Mangano took over the game offensively from there. The running back hauled in two receiving touchdowns and rushed for two more. She finished with 147 all-purpose yards.

“We are setting the standard this season for the girls to come after,” Mangano said. “This is my senior year. I’m going to do everything I can do to put this program on the map and I think we have. We’re not done yet.”

With SWR leading 20-0 at halftime, DeSilva knew the game was far from over. Kings Park had come back from an 18-0 deficit to beat Glenn in the semifinals.

“We didn’t need a repeat performance out of them,” DeSilva said. “That’s why we kept pushing forward and never let the foot off the gas pedal.”

SWR will now take on Nassau County Class C champion Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday in the Class C Long Island Championship. The 2 p.m. game will be played at Long Island University.

“I think they do something similar schematics-wise to Kings Park,” DeSilva said of Cold Spring Harbor. “They like to run jet sweep, reverses and stuff and they have a big receiver like Kings Park does. They will throw the ball down the field. If we go in there, execute the game plan and play defense like we’ve been doing, I think we have a great chance to continue this special run.”