Suffolk II roundup: Half Hollow Hills East, Centereach now 4-0
Bay Shore's Khalid Hill drags down Half Hollow Hills East's Ernesto Mitchell on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017.
When the smoke cleared Thursday, Half Hollow Hills East and Centereach were still undefeated in Suffolk II.
Hills East, which was seeded seventh in the preseason coaches poll, and Centereach — selected fifth — are both 4-0 after key victories on Thursday.
Ernesto Mitchell had 12 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown to lead host Hills East past Riverhead, 33-12. Centereach beat Smithtown East, 26-0.
Hills East’s Mitchell had five tackles and a sack. Drew Martin added nine carries for 148 yards and a touchdown. Nyrel Sevilla had seven carries for 128 yards and a touchdown, and Brett Martin had two carries for 13 yards and a touchdown.
“These seniors have willing bought into everything we’ve asked them to do for four years, and this is all the product of that,” said Hills East coach Mike Maratto. “They believe in each other. They’ve earned everything we’ve gotten so far, and they’re hungry for more.”
AJ O’Gorman, with two sacks, had a team-high six tackles, Sevilla added five, and Trevor Catlin added two sacks. Jay Spinelli completed three passes for 70 yards and a had a 20-yard TD pass to receiver Kendall Nero-Clark for Hills East (4-0).
At Smithtown East, Alec Kiernan ran for 153 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries and also had one of Centereach’s two fumble returns for touchdowns. Kiernan opened the scoring in the second quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run that was set up by a 42-yard pass from Jay Morwood to Chris Witherspoon that brought the Cougars to the 4-yard line. In the third quarter, Michael Grieco recovered a fumble and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown. Kiernan forced a fumble on a fourth-down attempt, recovered it and ran it back 91 yards to make the score 19-0 with 7:25 remaining in the game for Centereach, which travels to Hills East next Saturday in a battle of unbeatens.
Bay Shore 14, Newfield 7: Nolan Epps caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Casey Roan with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter to lead Bay Shore (1-3). Bay Shore’s Casey Roan completed 2 of 8 passes for 36 yards and one touchdown. Josh Parris rushed for 116 yards on 19 carries, and Terrance Day added 14 carries for 66 yards and a rushing touchdown in the second quarter. Nasai Mimms and Khalid Hill had 10 tackles, and Michael Voltz had nine tackles.
Huntington 28, Deer Park 7: Sam Bergman had 18 carries for 117 yards and three touchdowns to lead Huntington (2-2). Quarterback John Paci IV completed 12 passes for 120 yards and had a 17-yard touchdown pass to receiver Alex Labella, who had five catches for 60 yards. Luke Edle added seven catches for 60 yards, and Shateek Paller had eight tackles.
