East Rockaway, West Hempstead join forces as one team in Nassau Conference IV
East Rockaway and West Hempstead have joined forces to form one team this year. From left, Jayden Romero (West Hempstead), Yency Duran (West Hempstead), Terry Hayes (East Rockaway), Russell Pajer (East Rockaway coach), Tristen Rose (East Rockaway) and Michael Tizio (East Rockaway).
Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Nassau Conference IV received quite the facelift this offseason, with one powerhouse departing, three new programs joining and two new combined teams forming. Essentially, five new members now exist in the renovated 14-team conference. Among them, expectations are high for the merged East Rockaway/West Hempstead team.
East Rockaway and West Hempstead combined their programs out of necessity. While East Rockaway had ample roster turnout, West Hempstead struggled to meet the state’s requirement of maintaining 16 players to field a varsity football team. The former conference rivals joined forces and are now Nassau IV’s preseason No. 5 seed.
The team will benefit from the combination. Where East Rockaway’s roster had a need, West Hempstead provided a solution. Thin positional groups were deepened, and now several two-way players will be able to rest on one side of the ball. Perhaps most importantly, both programs’ strengths have combined to form one of Nassau IV’s most dangerous defensive lines.
The team — which is nicknaming itself the Rockin’ Rams to include West Hempstead’s old moniker — boast a fearsome duo up front with seniors Terry Hayes and Yency Duran. Hayes had 10 sacks and 16 tackles for loss as a defensive end for East Rockaway, while Duran was a fierce run-stuffer with 25 tackles between multiple defensive-line positions for West Hempstead.
“I won’t have all the pressure on me because I have Yency on the other side,” Hayes said. “I know he’s really good, and teams won’t just want to block me; they’ll have to stop both of us. If they’re 1-on-1 with both of us, then one of us is going to make a big play. I’m very excited to get out there and for other teams to see how dominant our line is. We’re going to get out there and make other quarterbacks’ lives miserable.”
Duran is excited to pair his talents with Hayes’, as well as his other new teammates.
“I feel like I’m really adaptable,” Duran said. “I can do whatever is called upon me, whether it’s as a run-stopper or a pass-rusher. We’ve got a lot of depth behind us, so we’ll be fresh throughout games. I think we have a team that’s very ready to break out on offense and defense, and I’m ready to show everybody what I have on both sides, too.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
