Seeking Revenge In The Suffolk County Finals

In week six of the high school football season, the Sayville Golden Flashes and Islip Buccaneers for a showdown between two undefeated teams. Both teams came into the game at 5-0 with Sayville coming off three straight road wins. But Sayville's confidence took a major hit as Islip dominated the game, winning 41-13.

Now, the two teams will meet again on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at SUNY Stony Brook for the Suffolk County Division III championship with Sayville seeking to avenge the loss to their arch-rivals.

In the game, played Oct. 16 at Sayville, Islip completely shut down the potent Sayville attack by blitzing junior quarterback Steven Ferreira, who is the focal point of the Golden Flashes offense. Ferreira was sacked a total of 10 times by Islip defense in a game that was supposed to be between the two top teams in the division, but instead looked like a mismatch. Islip took a 27-0 lead before Sayville finally answered. 

"They embarrassed us. We embarrassed ourselves with our play. We played terribly. I think they played extremely well. We made a lot of changes offensively and defensively [because of that game]. We're a different team from that game," said Sayville head coach Robert Hoss. "Islip beating us that way made us a better football team so now we'll see how much better we got because we get a chance to play them again."

It could have been a demoralizing loss for the Golden Flashes, but the team seems to have grown from the loss, proving it can win tight games, when sometimes, touchdowns don't come easy. 

Following the loss to Islip, Sayville came from behind to in triple overtime; in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, the Golden Flashes scored with 25 seconds left in a . On Saturday's semifinals, the Golden Flashes were tied 14-14with Westhampton before with seven minutes to go in the game.

While Sayville may not be as flashy as they had been earlier in the year, they are perhaps a more efficient team. In Thursday night's game, expect Islip head coach Jamie Lynch to employ a tough blitz in an effort to rattle Ferreira. Sayville can counter with sophomore running back John Haggart, who has emerged as a weapon for the Golden Flashes ever since the Islip game.

Haggart has rushed for over 100 yards in each of the last four games and has scored eight touchdowns during that period. The 6', 180-pound sophomore has shaken a reputation of being soft by running with purpose, shedding and breaking tackles. 

"It's hard for a tenth grader who has been a track kid his whole life to be the starting tailback for Sayville," said Hoss. "You have to give a young kid a lot of carries and with more carries, the more comfortable he got and now he's a runner. He's running lower; he has more of a forward lean and there's no question he's breaking tackles."

Even with the emergence of Haggart, the Golden Flashes still need the leadership and right arm of Ferreira, who has an outstanding on-field presence and who has a solid group of wide receivers led by James Rupp, Thomas Hannan, Rich Millwater and Josh Tordik. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Sayville must contain the running ability of Islip quarterback Jeffrey Craig, something they didn't do in the first meeting between the two teams when Craig rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns. 

The Sayville defense, led by Justin Fronckwicz, Matt Ali, Joe DeLuca and Sean Murphy, had a big second half on Saturday against Westhampton, shutting down the opposition and scoring on an interception returned for a touchdown by Tordik.

Sayville's bend-but-not-break defense could be helped if the Sayville offense can maintain control of the ball. 

With the county title on the line, Sayville hopes it saved its best effort for its last of the season against Islip.