Brayden Robertiello, Anthony Asaro help Garden City reach 11th straight Nassau football final
Ben Smith of Garden City, middle, celebrates quarterback Brayden Robertiello's touchdown against MacArthur during a Nassau Conference II semifinal football game on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, at Hofstra. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
For the 11th straight year, Garden City will play for the county title.
The top-seeded Trojans defeated sixth-seeded MacArthur, 34-7, in the semifinals of the Nassau Conference II football playoffs at Hofstra on Friday night. Garden City (9-1) will face second-seeded Carey at 4 p.m. on Friday at Hofstra.
“We’ve had guys who have made plays when they’ve gotten their opportunities,” coach Dave Ettinger said. “Our focus has been pretty good in getting back to next Friday, which has been the goal since the start of the season, which is now here. I’m proud of these guys.”
The Trojans led from wire to wire and played their brand of football for most of the night.
After they went three-and-out on their opening possession, Garden City safety Max Siragusa intercepted a pass and returned it 15 yards to the Generals’ 30-yard line.
From there, running back Anthony Asaro rumbled for a pair of 11-yard gains before dragging three defenders into the end zone with him for an 8-yard touchdown.
“I love playing that type of football, but all the praise goes to my O-line,” Asaro said. “They get a good push and let me find a hole. I was telling Ettinger before the game, ‘I want 15 to 20 carries. I want to play smashmouth football.’ ”
Asaro finished with 51 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Quarterback Brayden Robertiello led the ground attack with 91 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.
Robertiello kept it on a read-option fake and turned the left corner for a 34-yard touchdown run to give the Trojans a 14-0 lead with 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter. With Garden City leading 21-7 in the third quarter, he scrambled to his right and took off for a 21-yard gain to the 1 before pounding it in himself on a quarterback sneak to make it 28-7 with 7:06 left.
“We knew there would be some cold weather and wind, so the running game was a huge focus all week,” Robertiello said. “The offensive line did a great job, as always, and we ran the ball really well.”
Christian Roddini added a 17-yard touchdown run.
After MacArthur (6-4) fell behind 14-0, running back Ethan Shapiro completed a 30-yard pass to wide receiver Ryan Solomon on a halfback option. On the next play, he broke multiple tackles and rushed for a 15-yard touchdown to make it 14-7 with 9:07 left in the second quarter.
The Generals then recovered a surprise onside kick and drove to Garden City’s 36-yard line, but defensive end Thomas Bacich helped stuff a run for no gain on fourth-and-1. On the final play of the first half, with Garden City holding a 21-7 lead, the Trojans’ defensive line stopped a rush by MacArthur quarterback Vinny Szucs for no gain to keep points off the board.
Bacich again helped stuff a fourth-down run to open the second half, this time at midfield, to set up Robertiello’s second touchdown run. He led the team with seven tackles.
“That’s huge,” Bacich said. “That means a lot to me, especially as a senior just trying to leave with no regrets.”
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.
