Garden City Football History
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1998

"There was just enough time on the clock for 1 more play to end the game. Garden City was on the wrong side of mid-field, locked in a 14-14 tie with longtime rival New Hyde Park at New Hyde Park. If I remember correctly, both teams were undefeated to that point in the season. With the crowd on its feet, quarterback Matt Casey took the snap, dropped back in the pocket and threw the ball up to a streaking Dan Doherty, who made a move inside to make the catch and score the winning touchdown with no time on the clock. GC won, 20-14, and went on to win the 1998 Rutgers Cup for best team in Nassau County. That was one of the best games I ever played in and one of the most satisfying victories. We shook the bus so violently after that game that the driver got off and refused to drive us back to GC until we calmed down. We stopped rocking the bus, but nobody calmed down." - Jack Harder

1987

My 20th year reunion is coming up in a couple of weeks and  looking at this site and reading the names of former players and the two great entries on a GC Football history got me inspired to ad something and I hope this inspires others to do the same. 

I'll always think that the turning point for the '87 team occurred early on. It was a hot, lazy afternoon in early September against MacArthur, a team we were supposed to roll over.  Except we were the ones getting rolled,  all over the field.  The turf was sparce and bone dry and dust flew up like sand, particularly if you were on the bottom of the pile and a McArthur player kicked some in your face. The fans were obnoxious, and when McArthur  took the lead early in the fourth quarter the players started talking and the talk became downright disrespectful.  Not so much of our team but of Garden City Football and Gaden City itself.  That was when they crossed the line and turned a lackluster effort by us into an intense all out battle. 

As McArthur was driving deep into our territory late in the game, a game we were losing,  I'll never forget Coach Flatley yelling from the sideline "Remember Chenewanda, remember Chenewanda! " he was out of the Coach's box and practically in the defensive huddle.

Chenewanda was the name of the camp where we grinded  through three a day practices. It took our coach's reminder and some brutal insults but we finally remembered who we were and what we were all about.  After crushing hits by Soutar, Coman and Doyle their loud mouthed quarter back left the game.  We stopped them, got the ball back,  and scored.  We finally blocked like a team from B.. Delaney and Deakins on the line to our receivers Griffith and Krebs downfiled-even our QB Pappas, not known for delivering the shiver,  laid out one of their players after handing the ball off on a reverse.  A few plays into that drive which started deep in our own zone Case broke through the line and went untouched for a long TD. We made sure McArthur went three and out two more times and we scored two more touchdowns,  all running the football and all in the fourth quarter. 

The adversity of that game brought us together and made us realize we could be beaten if we ever forget where we came from, how hard we had worked to get to where we were, and what an honor and a priviledge it was to play for a team that everyone  was gunning for. We had a tie mid season with West Hempstead and went on to beat them handily in the Conference II Championship, going undefeated for the year. -Jay McMahon


1982

"upsetting bethpage in 1981 was great.
g.c. had no wins in 1980.
it was a cold rainy day going to bethpage in 1982. 25' rainy and wet.
Doc dogherty had us warm up at g.c. high. then we got on the bus for the ride.
when we got off the bus, there was a huge sign that the bethpage fans made reading "NEVER AGAIN"
well, we beat the snott out of them! emertt had a great game, shawn had a great game,blair had a great game, werban...i can go on and on...
but the thing I remember most is that someone from g.c. ripped the sign in half... it now read "AGAIN".
this is the game i as a player remember most...
the play "blue 32" we ran it 15 times in a row. the line man handled bethpage and let us running backs run for daylight! a great day, great game and great season!!! we lost to west hempsted in the championship that year, but nothing comes close to the bond we had as a team that year!" - bill stutzmann