Mepham football QB Adam Erlichman steps up, helps leads team past MacArthur
Mepham quarterback Adam Erlichman passes into the flats during a Nassau Conference II football game against MacArthur in Bellmore on Saturday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
He made his varsity debut with mop-up duty near the end of Mepham’s one-sided win over Roosevelt in Week 1. But this wasn’t mop-up duty now in Week 2. This was going to be Adam Erlichman’s true debut.
The 6-1 sophomore was coming in to play quarterback with 2:18 left in the first half and the Pirates down a touchdown and 90 yards away from MacArthur’s end zone. He could feel the weight of the moment surging through him. But his poise took over.
“My adrenaline was like through the roof,” Erlichman said. “But I was calm because everybody kind of looks up to me.”
He calmly took the Pirates on a 90-yard ride to the tying touchdown, going 6-for-7 for 81 yards, including his first varsity scoring pass. Now flash forward to the fourth quarter, the score again tied. Erlichman started at his own 24 and got them going with an 11-yard completion on first down. He finished the game 12-for-16 for 147 yards and the TD.
In the end, though, it was Ryan Bayer’s time to try to conquer the Nassau II moment. The senior kicker capped the drive by drilling a 29-yard field goal with 1:58 left to win Saturday’s homecoming game for Mepham, 24-21.
“It’s special,” Bayer said. “It’s just like what you dream of when you think about homecoming. It’s (kicking) a game-winning field goal for your team.”
The football day will be unforgettable for Erlichman, too.
“Surreal,” he said. “I could never imagine this in a million years.”
The Pirates also played seniors Ryan Radicone and Patrick Cloudman at quarterback.
“We have confidence in all three guys,” coach Tom Mazeika said. “This was [Erlichman’s] turn. He stepped up and made some plays we needed him to make.”
Junior QB Vinny Szucs made plays in his second varsity start for MacArthur (1-1), going 13-for-21 for 158 yards with one TD and one INT, and he carried for two scores. He ran 5 yards for the first touchdown of the game.
But Lenny Achan countered for Mepham with a 3-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter.
After Szucs hit Ryan Solomon for a 9-yard touchdown, Erlichman found Ryan McCabe for a 17-yard TD to conclude the 90-yard drive with 6.7 seconds left until halftime. Bayer’s PAT made it 14-14.
Then Achan ran 2 yards for a TD on the opening drive of the third. But the Generals tied it. Szucs plowed in from the 2 on the first play of the fourth.
“We’re not as deep at some positions, but you play the cards you’re dealt,” MacArthur coach Bobby Fehrenbach said. “I thought we played a very good game today against a really good team.”
