Sayville Opens Playoffs With Dramatic Win

Sayville's will continue thanks to a dramatic come from behind win against Amityville on Saturday. With 25.8 second left, quarterback Steven Ferreira found wide receiver Rich Millwater for a 35-yard touchdown pass to propel the Golden Flashes to a 26-21 win over the Warriors in the Suffolk County Class III quarterfinals. 

With just over three minutes left in the game, Sayville got the ball after Amityville took a 21-20 lead. With the season on the line, Ferreira and the offense marched down the field and with about 30 second left and the ball on the Amityville 35 yard line, Ferreira hit Millwater, who ran a post over the middle, for the winning score.

"Our offense is built for scoring quickly," said Sayville head coach Robert Hoss.

The strategy for Sayville was to control the clock by running the ball. Sophomore running back John Haggart ran effectively, gaining 126 yards on the ground and scoring Sayville's first touchdown of the game in the first quarter. 

The Golden Flashes took a 20-7 lead into halftime, but in the second half, had two drives stall in deep in Amityville territory. The Warriors pulled to within one touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter when junior running back Da'rell Hatcher ran 58 yards for a score. 

In the fourth quarter, Amityville pulled to within a point when freshman quarterback Sean Walters found junior wide receiver Willie White on a 24-yard touchdown play. With Amityville trailing 20-19, the Warriors gambled with a two-point conversion and succeeded to take a one point lead. 

Sayville came into the game as the top seed while Amityville was seeded eighth in Suffolk Division III. But Amityville was no ordinary eighth seed and found themselves on the verge of an upset. "They're an excellent football team. We knew it was kind of a tough draw for us," said Hoss. 

When Sayville got the ball back on their own 29 yard line, Ferreira showed confidence and poise in leading the Golden Flashes to victory, completing 7 of 10 passes for 62 yards on the winning drive. 

"You have to be confident throughout the whole drive. The quarterback is the leader on offense and if you put your head down, they're going to look down too," said Ferreira, who threw three touchdowns in the game. "The way we've played the whole season, I knew we could do it."

It was appropriate that Millwater, the senior co-captain, caught the winning touchdown. "I was asking coach Hoss to give me a post [route]. It's my senior year. It could be my last play. He called a post and I got open," said Millwater, who had two touchdown receptions on the day. "I was breaking down at the end because we were losing. It was the biggest play of my life."

For Sayville's seniors, Saturday's game could have been their last if not for the late heroics. "It was exciting but also kind of scary," said senior Joe DeLuca, the team's other co-captain. "I always have faith up until the last second. We have great kids on this team. No one is ever going to stop playing."

Sayville will host Westhampton in the county semi-finals next weekend.