Massapequa Ends Garden City's Nation-Best 68-Game Winning Streak, 21-14, at Hofstra

The nation's longest high school football winning streak is over.

Massapequa beat Garden City 21-14 on Monday night at Hofstra University's James M. Shuart Stadium, ending the Trojans' 68-game run that had stood since November 30, 2019, according to USA Today and On3. That's the last time Garden City lost a football game, a defeat to Lindenhurst in the Class I Long Island Championship. Since then: five straight Long Island titles and 10 straight Nassau County conference championships, per the New York Post.

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but got pushed to Monday because of a nor'easter that hit the region over the weekend, according to On3 and Newsday.

How It Happened

Massapequa struck first. Quarterback Luke Garguilo capped an 11-play, 55-yard drive with a touchdown 11:24 into the second quarter, according to USA Today. Garden City had 12 total yards of offense and zero first downs in the first half.

The Trojans woke up in the third quarter. Brayden Robertiello broke a 60-yard touchdown run 43 seconds into the period to tie it at 7. Massapequa answered when Justin Farrell scored on the ground after an interception by Casey Gilchrist set up the drive, per USA Today, making it 14-7.

Garden City wasn't done. Robertiello scored his second touchdown of the night, a 5-yard run, with 5:47 left to tie it at 14.

That's when Massapequa's captains took over. Senior defensive lineman Ryan Chabus, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound captain, jumped a Garden City screen pass and intercepted it with 1:50 remaining, returning it to the Trojans' 18-yard line, according to Greater Long Island. "When I saw the ball in the air, I felt like it took forever to come down, like slow motion," Chabus told Greater Long Island. "I just high pointed it and that's it."

Facing third-and-21, Garguilo found senior wideout Dylan Milio wide open downfield. Milio caught it and raced in for a 29-yard touchdown. USA Today and Newsday put the clock at 36 seconds remaining; the New York Post and Greater Long Island say it was inside 30 seconds. Either way, it put Massapequa up 21-14 for good.

"It's amazing to be the team that broke the streak," Milio told Greater Long Island.

This matchup existed only because the Nassau County Football Coaches Association voted to allow crossover games between conferences, pairing preseason top seeds regardless of division, according to Newsday's Gregg Sarra. Massapequa, the No. 1 seed in the larger Conference I, and Garden City, the No. 1 seed in Conference II, had never played each other. The rule change made it possible.

Sarra, writing for Newsday, called the schedule shake-up a win for a sport that's shrinking on Long Island, noting that Amityville, Holy Trinity and Port Jefferson have all folded their programs recently. Matt McLees, Massapequa's athletic director, told Newsday: "This is football and community all wrapped in one moment. This place is packed."

Attendance figures vary by outlet. The New York Post reported nearly 6,000 fans; On3 noted the stadium's capacity is 11,929. Neither source gave an official gate count.

Garden City's 68 games was nowhere close to the all-time national record. That belongs to De La Salle of Concord, California, which won 151 straight from August 30, 1992, to September 4, 2004, according to On3.

Garden City's fall wasn't an isolated event this season. USA Today reported that Sheridan, Wyoming's 59-game streak ended in a 38-0 shutout loss to Natrona County the same week. Two weeks earlier, Lincoln Christian of Oklahoma lost to Shiloh Christian, snapping a 46-game streak, and Star Valley of Wyoming's 33-game run ended against Sugar-Salem of Idaho.

With Garden City and Sheridan both gone, the nation's longest active streak now belongs to Carl Albert of Oklahoma, which survived a 17-16 win to push its streak to 58 games, according to USA Today.

The New York Post and Comms Trader both describe Garden City coach Dave Ettinger as having been "invited to Super Bowl 60" and named an "NFL Coach of the Year." No other source in this reporting corroborates that specific claim, and it's unclear what award or invitation is being referenced. Readers should treat that detail with caution pending clarification from Garden City's athletic department.

Massapequa's win pushed its own streak to 26 games, now the longest active run in New York State, according to the New York Post and USA Today. The Chiefs have won three straight Long Island Class I championships. Both teams still have the rest of the regular season and playoffs ahead of them before either streak means anything more than bragging rights.