RSS Feed
 |
|
|||||||||
Amityville Warriors win Division IV Championship
The Warriors drew first blood on their second possession. Steven Medard recovered a loose ball at the Amityville 33-yard line to end a Babylon drive. Amityville went 67 yards on ten plays. The key was a sprint by Marcus Gardner off the left side for 29 yards to the Babylon 24. Gardner capped the drive tossing a left screen to tight end Medard who went in from the 6 behind a host of blockers. The 2-point conversion attempt was stopped by the Panther defense.
Babylon responded. The Panthers drove 72 yards on thirteen plays. The key was a third down right buttonhook from quarterback Greg Griffo to J. T. Pate for 12 yards to the Warrior 38. Four plays later from the 27, Griffo stepped back to throw but was submerged in a heavy charge. He slipped under a tackle, wiggled through two more, saw an opening up the middle, rushed through it, broke left and streaked into the near left corner for paydirt. One for the replays. Kerry Carlock added the first of his two extra point kicks. The next Warrior possession was thwarted on Bryan Schweitzer's interception at the Babylon 22. Amityville carried a 12-7 lead into halftime. The cheerleaders from both sides braved the weather and did their thing throughout the game. The Babylon squad gave an excellent halftime precision performance at midfield. The Panthers began a well controlled drive on their first possession of the second half. They went 77 yards on 18 plays, picking up six first downs. On fourth down, in punt formation at the Warrior 41, the ball was snapped to Griffo in a short block position. He rolled right and gunned to Alex Grandal good for 13 yards. Three plays later, Griffo hit Pate on a right buttonhook to the 14. On the second play of the final quarter, Griffo fired to tight end Beau Bachety in the left side of the end zone for the score. The play went 10 yards. Babylon was up 14-12. The drive lasted nine minutes and fifteen seconds. Both defenses then came through. Babylon's attempt at another long drive was stymied on a sack by Norgel Palmer. Matt Lauria's punt was downed on the Warrior 21. And Gardner took over. He led his team 79 yards on thirteen plays to win it. On the drive, he ran seven times for 48 yards and completed two passes for another 41. Amityville was temporarily paused with two five yard penalties. In the waning seconds, the Warriors had first and goal at the Panther 10. Gardner blasted through left guard to the 3. But the Black D stuffed him for no gain on the next two tries. The Warriors were down to fourth and goal on what would be their last chance. And they were hit with a delay penalty taking it back to the 8. The five yard pace off may have been the best thing to happen for them. It opened a longer field for a better pass advantage. On fourth down, Gardner did step back and showed pass, but saw an opening to the right, took it and raced for the score, diving into the end zone between two Panther def enders. Gardner's shovel pass to Tyler Heller was good for the 2- pointer and the Warriors were up 20-14 with 26 ticks rem aining. The Panthers went down valiantly, stopped by a tough Warrior game ending defense and a sack by Medard. It was the second year in a row that they fell at the end of a heartbreaking final. They were nipped 28- 27 by the Mount Sinai Mustangs in the last minutes of last year's championship game. Babylon coach Rick Punzone was disappointed with another tight defeat in the county final. He had considerable praise for the Amityville team. "He [Gardner] put the game on his shoulders. He delivered on two critical fourth down plays (in the final drive). My congratulations to them. They played a great game." Other Stuff: Gardner played a brilliant game. Working from the shotgun, he ran for 130 yards on 18 carries, completed 5 of 11 passes for 60 yards and was in on all of the Warrior scoring. Babylon tailback Schweitzer had 18 carries for 60 yards and 58 yards in returns for 118 all purpose yards. Fullback Sean Melow carried 9 times for 80 yards. Griffo was 4 of 6 for 50 yards passing and carried 9 times for 28 more while accounting for both Panther TDs. The team stats were very close. Babylon had 55 plays from scrimmage for 239 yards and 14 first downs. They rushed for 177 yards and passed for 62. Amityville had 236 yards on 39 plays and 11 first downs. They rushed for 176 and passed for 60. Each team had a turnover. Babylon's season ends at 8 - 2 . Amityville is also 8-2 and will play in the Class IV final for the Long Island Champions hip against the Seaford Vikings (10-0) at Hofstra University, Friday at noon. This year, the Panthers outscored their opponents 236-147 and totaled 2642 yards from scrimmage while holding the others to 1989. They tallied 125 first downs and held the opposition to 98. In turnovers, the Panthers had 25 takeaways and 14 giveaways.
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
||||||||
)
)
