Kyle Weeks' six touchdowns spark Kings Park
Kings Park's Kyle Weeks runs the ball against Shoreham-Wading River on October 15, 2022. Credit: /Thomas J. Lambui
Despite trailing for most of the second half, Kyle Weeks and Kings Park’s football team never panicked.
Not even when they found themselves down three points to Shoreham-Wading River on their own 34-yard line with 1:33 left and no timeouts.
On the first play of the drive, Weeks dropped back and found a wide-open Ralph Petrangelo for 42 yards.
“Kyle made his read and he really made the play for me,” Petrangelo said. “I just caught the ball.”
After a 15-yard completion to Sam Myung, Weeks ran in his fifth total touchdown of the game from 9 yards to put Kings Park up 37-33 with 54 seconds remaining.
On Shoreham-Wading River’s ensuing drive, Weeks returned an interception 55 yards for a touchdown to seal Kings Park’s 44-33 road victory Saturday in Suffolk Division IV.
“We woke up in the second half,” Weeks said. “We still made too many mistakes, but we straightened most things out and just made plays.”
Weeks finished with 29 carries for 126 yards and three touchdowns rushing, 201 yards and two touchdowns passing, an interception returned for a score and seven tackles.
The Kingsmen trailed 27-15 at the start of the fourth quarter, but they kept playing at their methodical pace.
“I tell the kids all the time, ‘Keep it simple, don’t panic and do your job,’” coach Mark O’Brien said. “I felt like we had plenty of time, so we just continued to do what we do, and the kids made plays.”
They made the most of the remaining time, scoring 29 points in the fourth quarter.
It started when Weeks found Declan O’Melia for a 23-yard touchdown with 7:29 left.
Kings Park’s defense forced a short punt thanks to great pressure and set up its offense on Shoreham-Wading River’s 20-yard line.
The Kingsmen made quick work and Weeks rushed for a 4-yard touchdown and the two-point conversion to take a 30-27 lead with 4:52 remaining.
The Wildcats answered right back, as Dylan Zahn threw his third touchdown pass of the game, a 33-yarder to Liam Kershis to give Shoreham-Wading River (3-3) a 33-30 lead with 2:33 remaining.
Weeks threw his fourth interception of the game to Kershis on Kings Park’s next drive, but a fourth down stop set up the winning drive.
“I made plenty of mistakes,” Weeks said. “We didn’t play to our potential as a team, but we showed at the end we can play much better,” Weeks said.
Kings Park improves to 5-1 and can secure the No. 2 seed in Suffolk IV with a win against Babylon (3-3) next week.
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
