Hurricane Football Dominates Rocky Point To Advance To Division III Semifinals

Throughout a high school football season, even the best team can have an uncharacteristically bad game. That happened for the undefeated
Westhampton Beach football team on October 13, when it played below its usual high expectations but still managed to beat Rocky Point in a 35-20 game. Head coach Bill Parry let his squad know after that game that he wasn’t happy.In the first round of the Suffolk County Division III playoffs on Friday night, Westhampton Beach hosted that same Rocky Point team, determined to show just how dominant it can be. That mission was accomplished with a 56-21 victory. The Canes (9-0) advanced to the semifinals and will host West Babylon on Friday night at 6 p.m. West Babylon, the sixth-place team in the division, rolled on host East Islip, the third-ranked team, 27-0, on Saturday afternoon, to advance. The winner of Friday night’s game will move on to the county championship against the winner of the Sayville and Half Hollow Hills West game. The county title game is set for noon on Saturday, November 18, at Stony Brook University.Westhampton Beach and West Babylon have not faced each other this season, but as coaches and players put it after Friday night’s game, it doesn’t matter much who the Canes are facing these days.“We have to worry about us because we’re the only team that can beat us,” Westhampton Beach senior Jake Bennett said.Westhampton Beach led Rocky Point, 28-0, by halftime on Friday night and increased that lead to 49-0 in the second half before the Eagles scored in the final seconds of the third quarter. The Canes primarily used reserve players in the second half of the game, including a number of junior varsity players called up for the playoffs, which led to a few more touchdowns for Rocky Point in the fourth quarter. The game was well in hand though before those scores.Senior Dylan Laube ran for 182 yards on 12 carries, which included a 75-yard run midway through the first quarter. He also caught an 86-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Clarke Lewis late in the second quarter. Junior Liam McIntyre ran the ball seven times for 75 yards and two touchdowns and junior Tyler Nolan rushed for 93 yards on four carries and also scored a touchdown.The defense was just as good as the offense for the Canes, stuffing Rocky Point on multiple goal-line stands. Bennett had three sacks and senior Nolan Quinlan finished with nine tackles, and a fumble recovery, and he defended two passes and intercepted another which he ran back for a touchdown.“Last week we really focused on discipline, keeping your gap and staying tight, especially close to the goal line,” Bennett said. “And that’s all that matters, keeping them out of the end zone.”Parry was proud of the way his team played against Rocky Point this time around.“We harped on these guys since we played that [last] game and we’ve been playing a lot cleaner,” he said. “It was just a bad game, you get one of those every year, and luckily we won. We needed to show up and play for real [tonight] and we did. We showed up and played a good, solid game.”