Long Island high school football games to watch for Week 8, plus picks

The Suffolk Division IV playoffs will come into full focus this weekend. The top seeds face off in two pivotal games that will help shake up the standings and determine home field for the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Preseason No. 5 Miller Place (6-1) and its dynamic offense with quarterback Shane Kiernan travel to No. 2 Babylon (7-0) and its own Hansen Award candidate — Long Island’s leading rusher Aidan Winter — for a 6 p.m. Friday clash.

“Our playoffs effectively started last week,” Miller Place coach Adam St. Nicholas said. “The mindset is to go out and treat every game like it’s a playoff game.”

Kiernan leads Long Island in passing yards per game (298). He’s thrown for 1,788 yards and 23 touchdowns in six games. He torched the Babylon defense twice last year for a total of 943 yards passing and 11 TDs.

“Shane has matured in so many ways as our leader,” St. Nicholas said. “We brought him up to the varsity team in his freshman year and he improved every year. He sets the protection at the line and knows where the ball is going before the snap. Best quarterback I’ve coached.”

Kiernan has two big-time wide receivers, AJ Rudolph and Brendan Cannon. Rudolph has 40 catches for 705 yards and 10 TDs and Cannon has 33 receptions for 509 yards and four scores.

A win would clinch the top seed for Babylon. The Panthers have won every game this season by at least 17 points. Winter has rushed for 1,140 yards and 23 touchdowns and quarterback Kai Jankow has totaled 743 all-purpose yards and 11 TDs.

“In the 35 years I’ve been coaching, Kiernan is as good as I’ve seen [a kid] throw a football,” Babylon coach Rick Punzone. “It’s a game that we’ve both marked on the calendar, and there’s a good chance we will play each other twice in the next three weeks.”

The beauty of Suffolk IV is the schedule — every team plays each other in a 10-team league with a nine-game season. There are no power points. There is no mathematical formula to make the playoffs based on preseason seeding and strength of schedule. It’s truly the best won-loss records qualify.

It’s the first time since 1992, when the power point system was introduced in Suffolk — except for the pandemic-induced spring 2021 season — that teams qualify by record only. That happened when the football teams at Southampton and Greenport canceled their varsity seasons. Section XI retooled the schedule over nine weeks and reduced the number of playoff qualifiers from eight to four.

The other key game in Division IV is preseason No. 6 Glenn (5-2) at top-seeded Bayport-Blue Point (5-2), scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m. Bayport has run into some regular-season turbulence after back-to-back losses to Babylon and Mount Sinai (5-2).

Bayport-Blue Point hadn’t lost a regular-season game since the fall of 2021. The program’s 37-game win streak against Suffolk opponents ended two weeks ago when they dropped a 27-6 decision to Babylon. Bayport has beaten Glenn in eight straight games

NASSAU IV

Seaford (7-0) at Plainedge (7-0), Friday, 6:30 p.m.
This is the last conference on Long Island with more than one undefeated team. Plainedge has won all seven of its games by double digits behind quarterback Jaxson Torres, who’s thrown for 1,037 yards and 11 touchdowns. Seaford halfback Brian Falk has 1,024 yards and 15 touchdowns. Plainedge beat Seaford, 33-27, in the Conference IV semifinal last year. 

NASSAU II

Garden City (7-0) at New Hyde Park (3-4), Saturday, 2 p.m.

A Garden City win will tie the state record for most consecutive victories (62). The Trojans are the four-time defending Long Island champions and have allowed just 50 points. Zach Olson is one of the top linemen in the state.

NASSAU II

Mepham (6-1) at East Meadow (5-2), Saturday, 2 p.m.
This is the first meeting between these schools in 29 years. Both are headed to the playoffs, and a win here guarantees a home game. Mepham has five shutouts with a seasoned core of seniors — linebackers James Quilty and Paulie Genovese, cornerback Mike Grizzard and end Jack Weber.

NASSAU III

Division (4-3) at Clarke (5-2), Saturday, 11 a.m.
Division needs a win to have a shot at the playoffs. Quarterback Tim Stanley leads Long Island in passing yards with 1,964 and has 21 touchdowns. He has quality receivers in Aiden Mirelis, who has 42 catches for 777 yards and 14 scores, and Jason Perez, who has 29 catches for 428 yards and six scores. Stanley has thrown for more than 200 yards in all seven games this season.

NASSAU III

Carey (6-1) at Bethpage (6-1), Saturday, 3 p.m. 

Carey has already clinched first place. The Seahawks were humbled last week by Wantagh, 41-23, as they allowed 34 second-half points. The loss ended Carey’s 18-game winning streak. Bethpage likes to grind it out behind Chase Solliday, who has rushed for 894 yards and nine touchdowns.

SUFFOLK II

East Islip (6-1) at Northport (7-0), Saturday, 1 p.m. 

The winner of this game clinches the top seed and home-field advantage for the Division II playoffs. Northport has never started a season 8-0 in 88 years of football.Quarterback Simon Blissett has passed for 1,366 yards and 19 touchdowns with one interception for the Tigers. East Islip counters with halfback Jake Simmons and his 1,026 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns.

SUFFOLK III
 

Sayville (7-0) at West Islip (6-1), Saturday, 2 p.m.
This is the first meeting between these teams in 65 years. The Golden Flashes are looking for their seventh consecutive unbeaten regular season and 19th in program history. Sayville has won 54 consecutive regular- season games dating to Week 5 of the 2018 season. Sayville’s Patrick Coan (1,337 yards, 15 TDs) and West Islip’s TJ Sonnenberg (1,017 yards, 13 TDs) can both air it out.
 

Newsday’s Andy Slawson contributed to this story.

By Gregg Sarra

gregg.sarra@newsday.com@Gregg_Sarra

Gregg Sarra is Newsday's high school sports editor and has been on the beat since the mid-1980s.