Gaviria helps 4-0 Islip overcome errors, ESM
Islip quarterback, Craig Jerrey, hands the ball off to running-back, Joe Sabbetino, in first-half action against Eastport South Manor. (October 2, 2010) Credit: Sean M. Gates
All it took was two plays for Islip to erase two-and-a-half quarters' worth of mistakes.
A fumble recovery by Joe Sabbatino, followed by Alex Gaviria's 30-yard touchdown run in the middle of the third quarter, led to Islip's comeback 20-13 victory over visiting Eastport-South Manor.
Gaviria's run erased a 13-7 deficit and was a tonic for a number of errors by the Buccaneers. Before that turn of events, on its previous possession, Islip (4-0 in Suffolk Division III) was called for holding, nullifying what would have been a game-tying 58-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jeffrey Craig.
That drive stalled and Islip punted to Eastport-South Manor (2-2). It turned out not to matter when Sabbatino forced a fumble on first down and recovered the ball.
"Huge play," Gaviria said. "He's always trying to strip it every time he makes a tackle."
A play later, Gaviria steamrolled through the Sharks' defensive line for his second touchdown of the game and the extra point put Islip ahead 14-13 with 5:28 left in the third quarter. Gaviria, whose 47-yard touchdown run in the first quarter helped tie the score at 7, finished with 114 rushing yards on eight carries.
"He's probably one of the more underrated kids in the county," Islip coach Jamie Lynch said of Gaviria, who plays running back and linebacker. "I think he'll get his due this year. That was as good a game, both sides of the ball, as you could play."
The same could not be said for the rest of the Islip squad.
Two minutes before Gaviria's first score, ESM defensive lineman Nick Senn stripped an attempted handoff and returned it to Islip's 10-yard line to set up the Sharks' first touchdown, a 5-yard pass from quarterback Luke Combs to receiver Garrett Bavosa.
On special teams, the Islip let ESM retain possession after fumbling away a punt it had blocked. And on offense, there was another Islip fumble as well as a penalty that nullified what would have been a fourth-down conversion to put the Buccaneers in scoring position with less than a minute left in the first half.
But Gaviria's two touchdowns and a 9-yard touchdown run by Sabbatino with 11:40 left in the game were enough for Islip. That was due in part to the absence of ESM's top running back, Alan Henderson, who broke his ankle in last week's win over Harborfields.
In his place, the Sharks managed only 65 yards on 22 carries, and Combs struggled through the air, completing 12 of 28 pass attempts for 97 yards.
Might the offense have looked different with Henderson on the field?
"If you have your best player, yes," ESM coach Barry Sacks said.
