Kevin Hippos wants to keep challenging the Chiefs.
The Massapequa football head coach believes it’s in the best interest of the sport to continue playing competitive nonleague games like his team’s epic showdown against Garden City, a game that caused a ruckus at Hofstra University on Monday night when the Chiefs ended the Trojans’ nation-leading 68-game winning streak with a thrilling 21-14 victory in front of nearly 6,000 fans.
“To me, high school sports is about getting your kids to the highest level,” Maspequa said after winning in the final 30 seconds.
While the Chiefs’ first meeting with the Trojans was the most high-profile crossover game between Conferences I and II, the new eighth-quarter rule changes allowed several of Nassau County’s top teams from different levels to mix it up in an early-season matchup that was well received.
Hibbers, whose Chiefs are riding a 26-game winning streak, felt the same way a week before the historic victory and stressed the need to find more ways to reduce chronically lopsided wins.
He ultimately hopes these crossover games will have a major impact on Long Island’s public school football playoff system, in which Peak is limited to the best teams in Nassau and Suffolk playing each other in the final game of the year, rather than against the Empire State’s best teams.
“I hope one day we can make it to the state championship,” Hippos told The Washington Post on Tuesday.
“This is a dream come true for these kids. Who doesn’t want to play for a state championship?”