McCoy runs wild in North Babylon's shutout

Some view North Babylon's ground-and-pound style as a knockoff of Woody Hayes' "Three yards and a cloud of dust" offensive philosophy of yesteryear.

But technology has modernized that style of attack. At least it did Friday night.

The football field at Comsewogue is field turf, so there was no cloud of dust after any of Preshod McCoy's runs. That kept the running back dust-free as he chugged his way to 158 yards and three touchdown on 26 carries in North Babylon's 41-0 win over the host Warriors.

The victory capped a 6-2 regular season for North Babylon and Comsewogue fell to 5-3. The teams will remain in the Nos. 3 and 4 Division II playoff spots, respectively, unless Bellport beats undefeated Newfield on Saturday afternoon, bumping Comsewogue from the fourth spot. Otherwise, each team will host a playoff game next week.

North Babylon clearly wanted to send a message heading into the postseason. The Bulldogs' 41-point margin of victory was easily their largest of the season and their last three games had been decided by a combined 12 points.

"This is the way we were supposed to be playing all year," McCoy said of his team, which was the preseason No. 1 seed in the division. "We said after the East Islip game [a 7-0 loss which dropped the Bulldogs to 4-2 on Oct. 16], 'Our playoffs start now.' "

McCoy and backfield mate Adam Amin were the beneficiaries of a short field on every first-half possession. North Babylon's worst starting point was the Comsewogue 48-yard line.

SEE PHOTOSNorth Babylon 41, Comsewogue 0

Amin capped the Bulldogs' first drive, a 12-play march, by drilling a 27-yard field goal with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first quarter. He and McCoy ended North Babylon's next two drives with touchdown runs, and a botched Comsewogue handoff ended with a safety to make it a 20-0 lead 2:48 before halftime.

McCoy added two more rushing touchdowns, his 14th and 15th of the season, in the second and third quarters. And in the fourth, Amin ran for 37 yards (the longest play from scrimmage for either team) to set up his 2-yard TD plunge.

Defensively, the Bulldogs held Comsewogue to 59 total yards. The Warriors' only first down in the first half came via a late hit penalty, and their longest play from scrimmage was quarterback Matt Scalera's 13-yard run.

Mike Morton recorded a sack for North Babylon, and T.Q. Grant, Mat Sonnenberg, Dom Sanchez and David Chandler all had tackles for a loss. McCoy would have had a fourth touchdown, but his 28-yard interception return for a score was called back for a penalty.

Said North Babylon head coach Terry Manning: "Our defense is been what's been keeping us in games all year."

Despite McCoy's spectacular effort, his longest run went for 17 yards and only five of his carries were longer than 10 yards.

"Controlling the clock is everything," McCoy said. "If we can do that every game, there isn't anyone who can beat us."

And with many new turf fields, it won't even dirty up their white uniforms. Not exactly how coach Hayes envisioned it.