Half Hollow Hills East, Northport want to join party at top of Suffolk II
Owen Johansen, Northport quarterback, throws a pass during practice at Northport on Wednesday. Credit: James Escher
The year-end party in Division II is always fun, but the guest list is very small.
Bellport, Lindenhurst, North Babylon, and West Islip are always on the guest list. Those four teams repeatedly play for the championship of Division II. In fact, no school other than those four have been in a Division II final since Half Hollow Hills West won the title in 2016.
Half Hollow Hills East and Northport want to change that. They want to be party crashers. Northport hasn't been to a title game since it won the Suffolk County large schools final in 1991.
Hills East has never reached a Suffolk final in any division since the Suffolk playoffs restarted in 1972.
Both teams think that they can change the narrative.
Northport coach Pat Campbell and his second seeded Tigers have lost close games in the semifinals in each of the last two seasons, including a 22-20 loss to Lindenhurst last season.
“We were one play away,” Campbell said.
Quarterback Owen Johansen passed for 1,250 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is also a standout linebacker. Along with Tim Cleary (OL/LB) and Andrew Miller (TE/DE) the Tigers might have enough to win a Suffolk title.
For Hills East coach Alex Marcelin, he believes his team can win the title.
“We have the talent,” he said. “But our division is so tough.”
The Thunderbirds return 80 percent of their starters including linemen Louca Charalambous and Davion Johnson. Talented Jo’Vanny Brown transferred to Hills East from Brentwood and will have a great impact on the offense.
Hills East has never played in a Suffolk final so Marcelin knows the expectations of his talented squad are very high.
“It is the elephant in the room,” he said. “We don’t just want to get to the final. We want to win it."
