Westhampton Beach Football Falls to Sayville in Suffolk County Division III Championship

After the Westhampton Beach football team suffered a 28-3 loss to Sayville in the Suffolk County Division III Championship last Thursday night, October 17, at Stony Brook University, senior co-captain Luke Kilroy explained that in the beginning of the season he looked around and saw a young team with potential.

To Kilroy’s point, the Hurricanes came into this season with only seven seniors — its smallest senior class in over 25 years — but still managed to, after being ranked sixth coming into the season, earn the third seed in the playoffs and eventually reach the county championship.

“The thing I loved most about this team is our heart,” Kilroy said after the game. “We worked so hard this summer, we had such great attendance to all of our challenges, all of our summer practices. This team had no quit — we were all gas — and I love these guys.

“Another thing is we’re all friends,” senior Sal Fracapane said. “When it comes down to it, like, off the field, we’re all hanging out with each other. I think coming here, playing at Stony Brook, that was our goal, just to come here. And it was an amazing experience, so cool.

“Proud of this whole team,” he added. “We were the sixth seed coming into this year and we come here to the Suffolk County Championship. I don’t think anyone thought we’d be here.”

The final score certainly doesn’t depict how close a game it actually was between the two rivals last week; the Golden Flashes scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game out of reach. What might come back to be a thorn in the side for the Hurricanes in the weeks ahead when they look back at this game was just how close they were to possibly creating what would have been a historic upset.

Sayville marched down the field on the game’s opening drive and scored less than four minutes after the opening whistle when junior quarterback Jake Tripptree found senior Anthony Morrione in the end zone; Morrione made a nice two-handed grab over the helmet of the Westhampton Beach defender on him, securing the ball for the score. Senior Owen Burke added the extra point through the uprights to make it a quick 7-0 game, and it seemed as though the high-powered Sayville offense, which averaged over 42 points per game this season, was just getting started.

The Westhampton Beach defense, though, as it did in its county semifinal victory at Half Hollow Hills West just five days prior, stood tall the rest of the opening frame. On Sayville’s next offensive drive, junior safety Gianni Amodemo nearly intercepted a Tripptree pass, creating a 4th and long situation for the Golden Flashes, who opted to go for it. But Amodemo came up clutch again, tackling Sayville sophomore running back Kyle Messina for a loss, forcing the turnover on downs.

That seemed to give Westhampton Beach a little momentum on offense on its next drive. After Nolan Michalowski drew a pass interference call, bringing the ball to midfield, the Westhampton Beach junior running back rattled off a 34-yard run, bringing the ball deep into Sayville territory at the 18-yard line. A couple of plays later, the ’Canes were facing a 4th and long situation, but junior quarterback Will Gambino connected with junior Heath Sumwalt for a pass play that made the next play a much more manageable 4th and 6. The ’Canes opted to go to their strong kicker in sophomore Brody Schaffer to get some points on the board, and he successfully kicked a 31-yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game.

Sayville’s next offensive drive was stalled when Westhampton Beach junior Jordyn Brown tackled a runner for a loss, and with the Flashes kicking into the wind, the ’Canes got the ball at midfield. Hoping to spark the offense, Westhampton Beach went to its bag of tricks when it successfully converted a flea flicker; Sumwalt, who was lined up outside as a receiver, was tossed the ball in the backfield, and then passed it to junior receiver Michael LoRusso for a 27-yard reception, bringing the ball deep into Sayville territory again. With the ’Canes knocking on the door for their first touchdown of the game, the momentum started to pull in their favor, but the Sayville defense was stingy. Eventually Westhampton Beach was forced to try another field goal, but this time Schaffer missed it, keeping it a four-point game.

Sayville went to work on offense again, and after the ball was snapped over Tripptree’s head for a big loss, creating a 4th and 16 from the ’Canes 23, it seemed as though Westhampton Beach was in line to make a stop. Instead, Tripptree tossed another ball up to the front pylon, similarly to how he scored the game’s first touchdown, and even though the ’Canes seemed to have the play covered, junior Luke Hansen was still somehow able to find the ball through traffic, catch it and score. After Burke’s extra point, the Flashes took a 14-3 lead, and with it stole some of that momentum Westhampton Beach had built up.

The ’Canes continued to have a hard time moving the ball on offense in the second half. Sayville senior Benjamin Pierce had a pair of interceptions in the third quarter alone, and although Westhampton Beach was able to keep the Flashes from scoring in the third quarter, they were unable to in the fourth. Freshman quarterback Patrick Coan, in for the injured Tripptree, connected with senior Michael Milo who turned a screen pass into a 14-yard score. Then, later in the quarter, Messina, who amassed 276 yards on the ground in the game, scored from six yards out to create the final score.

Sayville, still undefeated and with its county record 16th title now in hand, will play Nassau County Class III Champion Plainedge for the Long Island Class III Championship back at Stony Brook University this Saturday, November 26, at noon.

Westhampton Beach head coach Bryan Schaumloffel said that, despite the final score, he thought his defense continued to play well as it had done in the weeks prior.

“We went to battle with them and it was a physical game,” he said. “This doesn’t mean anything — there are no [moral] victories — but they knew they played Westhampton today. They’re going to be sore tomorrow and I’m proud of my guys that they did that. They stepped up and they left it on the field tonight.

“Defensively, we didn’t really do anything extra special,” he added. “We played the defense that we played. At times, we made a lot of nice plays. There were a couple of times where, third and long situations, they beat us. It was a one-on-one situation, and if they didn’t win that situation, we get the ball, but, that’s just the way it is.”

Schaumloffel said that he and his staff knew it was going to be a grind on offense. With how impressive Sayville’s offense was this season, that probably overshadowed what was also a tough defense that only allowed just over 10 points per game to opponents all season.

“We knew coming into it Sayville always plays great defense,” he said. “Their kids tackle, they get after it, and we knew it was going to be a struggle to put points on the board, and we really felt that when we got some opportunities to put some points on the board we really had to do that, and obviously we didn’t do that tonight.”

Now comes the hard part with the end of every season, which is saying goodbye to those seven seniors. That group was led by Kilroy, Fracapane, Tyler Kircher, Ryan Springer, Kevin Deshler, Jason Easton and co-captain Noah Hebberd, who suffered a knee injury early in last week’s county final and missed most of the game. Schaumloffel said Hebberd’s absence was big, not only on the defensive line, but especially offensively anchoring that line as its center. But he did say that junior Gavin Brand filled in admirably for him.

“Bottom line is I’m proud of our guys, I’m proud of our seniors. It was a great, great year,” he said. “They learned a lot, they had a lot of positive victories and a lot of positive things happening and we made it here, and you can never take anything away from these guys.”

With the large majority of the team returning next season, though, Westhampton Beach won’t have the luxury it did this season, coming in as a sort of unknown, and Schaumloffel is well aware of that fact.

“We’re going to take a little bit of a break, and then get after it in the offseason like we always do,” he said.