Division football's Chris Ruggia throws five TD passes in win over Mineola
Division QB Chris Ruggia completes a pass under pressure from Camron McCord of Mineola during the first quarter of a Nassau Conference III football game on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Mineola. Credit: James Escher
The Division football team has officially found its groove — and at the perfect time to do so.
The visiting Blue Dragons won their third game in a row when they took down Mineola, 42-28, in a Nassau Conference III game on Saturday morning. After opening coach Jay Hegi’s tenure with back-to-back losses, Division (3-2) has righted its early-season wrongs, and now finds itself streaking with the playoffs less than a month away.
After rushing for over 200 yards in each of their previous two wins, the Blue Dragons were held to just 14 yards on eight carries, but they finally unlocked their passing game. Quarterback Chris Ruggia completed 19 of his 22 passes for 384 yards and five touchdowns. As a team, Division went 21-for-24 passing for a season-high 423 yards and took only one sack.
Its passing offense’s previous season-best was 178 yards.
“I think it’s important that we instilled confidence in our guys today, and hopefully we can keep carrying it on,” Ruggia said. “We’ve known since the beginning of the year that we have the ability to throw it. This gives us confidence, and we needed that since the rough start to the season.”
It was not all perfect for the Blue Dragons’ aerial attack from the start. On the second play from scrimmage, George Gendekos took a lateral from Ruggia before chucking it downfield to Aiden Mirelis for a 37-yard gain. However, on the next play, Ruggia threw an interception to Mustangs cornerback Steve Garbarini on his first attempt.
Division’s defense took it right back when Devin Dwyer forced and Mirelis recovered a fumble. Three plays later, Ruggia dialed up a 68-yard touchdown strike to Mirelis down the middle to go up 7-0 with 5:51 left in the first quarter.
That was the first of six consecutive scoring drives that Ruggia conducted. Two possessions later, he connected with Mirelis on passes of 36, 32 and three yards — the last of which was their second touchdown connection to go up 21-0. With 1:51 left in the first half, Ruggia fired a 23-yard scoring pass down the left seam to James Moeller to make it 28-0.
After halftime, Mineola (1-4) found the end zone on all four of its possessions, but Ruggia answered its first two scores with touchdown passes of 31 yards to Constantine Chea and 20 yards to Gendekos, providing the final margin.
Mirelis dominated, finishing with seven catches for 202 yards and the two touchdowns. Moeller added five receptions for 98 yards.
“Today, we proved we could pass the ball, too,” Mirelis said. “This shows how dynamic we are. It feels really good to show that we have the best wide receiver corps on Long Island. My confidence in our passing game definitely rose up from previous games, and I think we’re going to keep going up from here.”
For the Mustangs, Brendan Torres rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, and also caught a 42-yard pass, while Dean Palmieri totaled 10 touches for 119 yards and two scores (one rushing, one receiving).
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.
