East Islip and West Islip highlight a weekend of backyard brawls
West Islip's Sam Ilario runs the ball against Smithtown West during their game at West Islip High School. (Sept. 12, 2013) Credit: Barry Sloan
Backyard brawls and crosstown rivalries will highlight this week's top high school football games. Perhaps, the granddaddy of them all is the renewing of the game between the Islips in which East meets West.
It doesn't get any better than East Islip and West Islip. And it's even sweeter when both teams are bound for the postseason. West Islip and super quarterback Sam Ilario have been unstoppable and host a banged up East Islip squad which lost halfback Matt Walter to a foot injury in last week's loss at unbeaten Smithtown West.
East Islip will play at West Islip at 2 p.m. Saturday in the first meeting for these two teams since 2010. East Islip leads the series, 17-15-3, with the Redmen winning the last four meetings.
It might seem like a mismatch -- two teams headed in opposite directions -- as West Islip, buoyed by Ilario's six touchdowns comes off a huge win over North Babylon. East Islip is nursing an abundance of injuries and on the heels of a blowout loss to Smithtown West.
But it's never what it seems when these teams meet.
