By Warren Horst
Despite starting out in a near identical fashion to the previous week's performance at the Long Island Invitational Drill, the West Sayville Fire Department Flying Dutchmen drill team ran into some rough goings midway through the Southern New York Volunteer Firemen's Association's annual drill in Lindenhurst.
By the end of the drill, West Sayville rebounded to overcome a single point deficit at the completion of the efficiency event to squeak out a one point win over the Piston Knockers of North Lindenhurst who basically had the opposite luck of the Flying Dutchmen, having sputtered in the ladder contests and come alive in the water events. In the end, West Sayville scored a total of 24 cumulative points to North Lindenhurst's 23.
The Islip Wolves earned third place overall with 16 points while the Central Islip Hoboes and Copiague Yellowbirds took fourth and fifth place with 14 1/2 and 11 points respectively.
All three of the ladder contests were easily won by West Sayville with runs of 6.30 seconds in the Three Man Ladder contest, 4.96 seconds in the Motor Hook and Ladder Class B event and 8.67 seconds in the C Ladder contest. The ladder contests gave the Flying Dutchman a commanding lead and it also earned them the distinction of having posted the new season's fastest times statewide in all three of the events.
Unfortunately, the good fortunes of the first three contests did not carry over into the next three when West Sayville failed to put up a placing time in the Motor Hose Class C and B as well as the Efficiency contests. The team's six point advantage, first place standing quickly, as a result, changed to a trailing one point chase of North Lindenhurst with just two events remaining. A 5.63 second first place effort in the Motor Pump contest catapulted the Flying Dutchmen back into the lead with a two point edge going into the day's last contest, buckets.
The Piston Knockers, the first of the two teams to run, performed near flawlessly with a 21.35 second bucket passing effort putting the pressure on the Flying Dutchmen. It was just enough – two one-hundredths of a second to be precise - to better the Flying Dutchmen in the contest when West Sayville ran ten teams later, but fell one point short of tying for the tournament win and two shy of surpassing the Dutchmen.
The 2010 Flying Dutchmen Drill Team is coached by Frank R. Miller, Sr. and Robert Marra and comprised of Captain Gary A. Schaum, Lieutenant Ryan Tenney, David Banks, Ryan Huguenin, Anthony Johnson, Chad Leigh-Manuell, Michael Marra, Frank R. Miller, Jr., Allen Newhouse, Robert Noonan, Kristy O'Neill, Richard Quenzer, Joseph Quenzer, Douglas Quenzer, Casey Quinn, Scott Rice, Daniel Tenney and Timothy Tenney.
(Warren Horst handles the public information for the West Sayville Fire Department.)
