Raphael Alomar's TD gives Islip win over Miller Place
Islip WR Raphael Alomar looks to avoid the tackle of Miller Place DB Francis Cole and Jake Buonaiuto in a game Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014. Credit: George A. Faella
Raphael Alomar and Islip were not about to let their great start go to waste.
Alomar scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with 1:26 remaining and Vinny Benenati had a strip sack that turned into a safety with 35 seconds remaining to help the No. 3 Buccaneers (8-2) defeat No. 2 Miller Place, 22-19, in a Suffolk Division II semifinal yesterday.
After falling behind early in their first meeting on Oct. 25, Islip coach Jamie Lynch emphasized all week that the Buccaneers needed to get off to a quick start.
Islip did just that, but it was almost for naught as Jake Buonaiu brought Miller Place (8-2) back. He rumbled for three second-half touchdowns to make it 19-14 and erase Islip's 14-0 halftime lead. "We didn't panic," Lynch said. "Everything went wrong in the third, but we went into the fourth up 14-13 and we would have signed for that before the game."
Islip is no stranger to close games, having played an overtime game and two others that came down to the final minutes, and Lynch believed that helped his team keep its composure today.
"If you're not comfortable being in tight games in the fourth quarter, the pressure can get you," Lynch said. "But our guys were used to it."
Islip gets a chance to avenge its other regular-season loss when it meets Sayville in the county final at Stony Brook at 7 p.m. on Thursday. "We knew physically we could play with both of those teams and that helped us mentally going into today," Lynch said. "We knew if we played our game we could hang with them and we did."
