There are always perks when a school wins a county or Long Island title. Aside from the gau­dy rings and a nice trophy, usually a handful of athletes get selected to postseason all-star teams and events.

That was the case with Amityville's gridiron gang this year.

The Warriors were represented by three play­ers and a coach at the Outback Steakhouse Em­pire Challenge, an annual football all-star game held at Hofstra University in late June.

Marcus Gardiner, Rockens Dieujuste and Reg­gie Robinson were on the roster, while Warriors' head coach Chris Taylor was a part of the coach­ing staff.

Other local figures included Farmingdale quar­terback Steve Probst and running back Tashawn Arthur, West Islip defensive end Alex Fernan and Babylon defensive tackle Beau Bachety. West Islip athletic director Wayne Shierant, for­mer Babylon head coach Hans Wiederkehr and Farmingdale head coach Buddy Krumenacker were part of the coaching staff as well.

This year's game, the 13th since the inaugura­tion of the game which is played to raise money to help fight cystic fibrosis, was won by the New York City team, 21-20.

NYC faced a fourth-and-20 at its own 23rd yard line with under a minute remaining and put together a handful of plays, which ended in a go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass from Jeffrey Legree to Stephan Benjamin.

"Their kid made a big play at the right time," Long Island coach Paul Longo, who is the head coach at William Floyd high school, told Newsday. "Considering the defenses are limited by the rules, I was proud of the way the defense played in the second half."

Long Island and William Floyd quarterback Joe Sidaras, who will play at Hofstra in the fall, was 7-for-11 and threw two touchdowns on 80 passing yards.

Former NFL quarterback and Long Island na­tive Boomer Esiason started the Empire Chal­lenge in 1996 to help benefit the Boomer Esia­son Foundation, which he began because his son Gunnar suffers from cystic fibrosis. The founda­tion has risen over $60 million to date.

Governor's Bowl Plainedge's John Makastchian was one of 10 Long Islanders to make the roster for the NY/NJ Governor's Bowl, another football all-star game. New York lost the game held at the Meadow­lands on June 8, however, 33-22.