LI stars use flashy plays, defense to dominate Empire Challenge

Originally published: June 18, 2013 10:15 PM
Updated: June 19, 2013 12:28 AM
By STEPHEN HAYNES  stephen.haynes@newsday.com

Photo credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke | Long Island team running back William Stanback, center, and teammates celebrate a touchdown against the New York City team in the United Healthcare Empire Challenge high school all-star football game at Hofstra University. (June 18, 2013)

Sheer dominance, as Long Island exhibited in last year’s Empire Challenge, was perhaps too mundane for this game, with all its pageantry and pregame pomp and circumstance.

So how does this sound? Long Island won the coin toss Tuesday night and deferred . . . then tried an onside kick. Long Island recovered it, but the play was called back and it was forced to kick again. According to the rules…