Sayville football rallies in second half to down West Islip
Jake Arato of Sayville hauls in a pass during Sayville's come-from-behind win over West Islip on Saturday. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
TJ Sonnenberg saw Saad Abid coming and there was nowhere to run. The West Islip quarterback tried to elude the Sayville defensive end but was corralled on a fourth down passing attempt near midfield. With Sonnenberg in his grasp, Abid forced the signal caller to throw the ball away, landing incomplete and sealing a wild comeback win with 13 seconds remaining.
Abid put the final touch on a Sayville comeback win where the Golden Flashes wiped out a 17-point second half deficit for a 27-24 road win over West Islip in a Suffolk Division III football game. Sayville trailed 24-7 midway through the third quarter before quarterback Patrick Coan engineered three consecutive touchdown drives.
The final dagger came with 1:07 left when Coan found Jake Arato on a third-and-nine pass for the go-ahead score. Arato was wide open on a post pattern to give the Golden Flashes their first lead in the game.
“The pressure sack by Abid was just one of the many key plays in the second half,” Sayville coach Rob Hoss said. “These are the types of games that get you ready for the playoffs. The fact that we didn’t turn on one another and point fingers and remained resolute to our game plan was the key to winning. We didn’t make any halftime adjustments. We were not executing in the first half, and we were outplayed. We didn’t change anything.”
Sayville (8-0) will host Westhampton (2-6) in a quarterfinal playoff game Friday at 6 p.m.
“We played so well in the second half and I’m super proud of all of them,: Hoss said. "If we’re down in the playoffs we can look back at this and believe we have what it takes to come back and win.”
And come back they did in a big way.
West Islip jumped out to a 21-0 first half lead. The Lions opened the three-score lead on the strength of a bullish running game that saw halfback Jake Kramer run for touchdowns of 42 and 54 yards. Sonnenberg also found Javon Brewster for a 19-yard scoring strike.
“They had a good trap block on the last touchdown by Kramer,” Hoss said. “And the runner found the crease.”
Sayville cut it to a two-score lead with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter when Coan hit Luke Neugebauer with a 9-yard touchdown pass. Coan found Neugebauer open on the post pattern and Henry Reiss added the kick to make it 21-7.
West Islip had trouble scoring in the second half, but Sonnenberg managed to hit Brewster on on third-and-12 for 51 yards to get into the Sayville red zone. Conor Kenefick nailed a 28-yard field goal for the 24-7 lead.
“It was the tale of two halves; we didn't finish what we started,” West Islip coach Steve Mileti said. “We started with a really good first half, and they finished with a great second half. Against a great team like Sayville, you must close the door, and we just didn't close the door.”
The stout defense of West Islip broke down on a few coverages that allowed Sayville to creep back into the game.
“That was huge that we held them to a field goal,” Hoss said. “We felt our offense was getting on track and when they hit that big play our kids didn’t flinch – big character check right there. It was a bend don’t break moment and I thought it gave us some momentum.”
Sayville went on a time consuming 74-yard drive capped by a Coan quarterback sneak for the TD with 2:41 left in the third quarter to make it 24-14. Trailing by 10, the Sayville defense came up with a three and out and forced a punt.
The Golden Flashes answered with another long drive capped by a 20-yard TD pass from Coan to Neugebauer to make it 24-20 with 6:31 left. West Islip moved the ball to Sayville’s 45 and on a fourth down and one play to seal the win, was called for illegal procedure forcing a punt.
“We had a fourth and short yardage and we made a mistake,” Mileti said. “You just can't make mistakes against a great team like that.”
Sayville got the ball back at its 20 with 3:53 left and went to work for the win.
Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.
