Hoping to defend their 2004 Suffolk Conference IV Title, the Amityville Warriors opened the 2005 football season by losing to Shoreham-Wading River 20-11. It was a disappointing start for the Warriors who had gone undefeated in the 2004 regular season and made it all the way to the Long Island Class IV Championship.

Amityville opened the scoring with a second quarter field goal but Shoreham-Wading River responded with a touchdown to give them a halftime lead of 6-3. A third quarter interception return gave Shoreham-Wading River an eleven-point lead, which they maintained until the fourth quarter. Star tailback Everette Benjamin ran in a fourth quarter touchdown from 14 yards away and when Benjamin also ran in the two- point conversion, Amityville was within a field goal. However, Shoreham-Wading River connected on a 75-yard touchdown later in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

The game marked the Amityville debut of Chris Taylor, the Wildcats’ new head coach. This season figures to be a challenge for Taylor. He takes over a team that is returning very few starters from last season. Despite the fact that his team is young and inexperienced, Taylor is confident this year’s version of the Wildcats can be successful.

"We are inexperienced but I’m hoping we come together as a team", said Taylor. "We’re hope to make progress week by week and we’re hoping to keep getting better. We have a new offense and we’re hoping to spread things out. We have very good backs and very athletic receivers."

One area that is a not concern for Amityville is senior Everette Benjamin. As a senior and a captain of the team, the Wildcats will be looking to Benjamin for big plays on the field and leadership off the field. He has the talent to have a terrific year and the potential for a successful football career beyond high school. Benjamin re-established his ability with a 14-yard touchdown run in Amityville’s loss to Wading River. It was the Wildcats’ only touchdown of the game.

Joining Benjamin as captain of the team is senior Kyle Cammaroto. As starting cornerback, Cammaroto will be hoping to anchor the defense at cornerback while contributing on offense as a tailback. Other key players for the Wildcats are senior Matt Williams and junior Dennis McDonough. Williams will be playing wide receiver and safety while McDonough will be taking over the role of starting quarterback.

Amityville’s commitment to winning another title can be seen in the unselfishness of sophomore Reggie Robinson. Last season, Robinson played running back for Amityville. However with Amityville already having talented backs, Robinson is needed much more on the offensive line, which has lost starters from last season. Robinson agreed to switch positions to help out his team where it most needs it. He will also be playing linebacker for the Wildcats as well.

The Wildcats will try to regroup from their opening day loss and rebound next week at Hampton Bays. After another road game at Mt. Sinai, they will return home on October 8 with a game against Southampton. Two weeks later on October 22, they will host Babylon in the homecoming game. That game should be quite intriguing as it is a rematch of last season’s Suffolk Division IV Championship, which was won by Amityville 34-14. The Wildcats’ final home game this season will be on November 5 when they host Elwood-John Glenn High School.