Sayville football's Tristan Vitale, Patrick Coan lead way to thrilling Long Island Class III championship win

Tristan Vitale will remember this night for a long time.

The halfback had the best game of his high school career in the biggest (and last) game of his senior season.

Vitale ran for 239 yards and five touchdowns on 20 carries to lead Sayville to a 42-35 win over Wantagh in the Long Island Class III championship game Friday evening at Hofstra University.

Sayville’s eighth Long Island title capped a 12-0 season.

“It’s a dream. I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Vitale said. “I give all the credit to my O-line and our play-calling. The coaches put together a great game plan.”

The offensive line — composed of tackles Richard Fontanetta and Chase Neugebauer, guards Ben Kloska and Michael Morgan, center Alex LaBella and tight end Javen Taff — paved the way for 479 rushing yards and 555 yards of total offense.

Quarterback Patrick Coan ran for 229 yards on 20 carries, including a 64-yard touchdown. He completed seven passes for 76 yards.

Patrick Coan responds with a TD of his own to the tie the game 28-28 in the third. pic.twitter.com/iYWzXwQJOz

— Newsday HS sports (@NewsdayHSsports) November 28, 2025

“When we were throwing the ball, I had a bunch of time to throw,” he said. “When I was running, there were massive holes that I could run through. It’s a testament to the line and their work with Coach [James] Knote since the summer.”

Vitale’s fifth touchdown gave Sayville a 42-28 lead with 11:51 left. Wantagh, last year’s Class IV champion, answered with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that ended with Luke Martini catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Carter Loughman with 8:08 remaining.

Vitale gets his fifth TD to start the fourth quarter. There is 11:51 left in the game. pic.twitter.com/T5CvROGbxd

— Newsday HS sports (@NewsdayHSsports) November 28, 2025

Loughman finds Martini for the 7-yard touchdown to cut the lead 42–35 in the fourth quarter. pic.twitter.com/gbVcvjXSPG

— Newsday HS sports (@NewsdayHSsports) November 28, 2025

Wantagh’s Luke Gonsowski then recovered an onside kick by Brendon Wood, but Sayville forced a turnover on downs.

Vitale had a 35-yard touchdown run negated by a holding call, and Sayville was forced to punt with 2:23 left.

Wantagh converted two fourth downs, but Luke Neugebauer intercepted a pass on fourth-and-13 with 25 seconds left, allowing Coan to kneel out the remainder of the clock.

Vitale is the first player to score five touchdowns in a Long Island championship game since Freeport’s Makhai Jinks ran for five TDs in a 42-14 win over Floyd in 2019.

Vitale ran for 287 yards and three touchdowns in the regular season. He totaled 530 rushing yards and nine TDs in the postseason.

“Sometimes we were down and had some slumps and the team just needed somebody to pick it up, and I guess I was the guy to do it sometimes,” Vitale said. “It’s been something special. It’s going to be good reflecting on it.”

Friday marked Sayville’s third trip to the Long Island Championships in the last four years. The Golden Flashes, who won the title in 2022, dropped a 31-28 heartbreaker to Garden City in last year’s Long Island Class III title game.

“Losing your tailback, all four wide receivers, your tight end, and you start to look around and you’re like, ‘How are we getting back there?’ ” coach Rob Hoss said. “It’s like how Wantagh and Coach [Keith] Sachs lost 20 starters and they got back here. We certainly have the talent, but I think our culture is what got us here.”

Coan remembers the feeling from last year’s title game.

“After last November, we made a promise to ourselves that this November was going to be different,” he said. “We definitely proved that point today.”

Wantagh (8-4) also put on an offensive show. Loughman threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns and Devin Paccione caught five passes for 121 yards and a score. Joe Nicholson caught three passes for 105 yards and a TD and added a rushing score. Martini had 12 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 18 yards and a TD.

On Wantagh’s final drive, Matthew Giacobello caught a 10-yard pass off a deflection from Paccione on fourth-and-3. Four plays later, Paccione caught a backward pass and looked to throw downfield but ran from one sideline to the other before turning upfield for a 9-yard gain on fourth-and-4. But the interception on the third fourth down of the drive ended Wantagh’s hopes of completing the comeback.

“I’m so proud of them,” Sachs said. “When you get so close, you just want to find a way to win. I feel like there was one more play we had in us. But you can’t keep asking for that. You can’t overcome everything. They overcame so much this year. They left their mark on the program.”