Zagaja's 50-yard catch spurs Harborfields
Harborfields Henry Zagaja (24) hauls in a pass to the flat over fallen Miller Place linebacker Alex Greenidge (44) in the first half. (Nov. 5, 2011) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
Harborfields employed a little democracy in action Saturday.
At halftime of the Tornadoes' Suffolk III first-round playoff game at Miller Place, wide receiver Henry Zagaja told the coaching staff he thought a long pass would work.
Specifically, "ice pass post" -- to Zagaja, of course.
"We talked Coach into it," said Zagaja, who was wide open on the deep post pattern on the second play from scrimmage of the second half. Travis George hit him in stride for a 50-yard gain, setting up George's 1-yard sneak that helped spur No. 6 Harborfields to a 22-0 upset victory over No. 3 Miller Place.
Harborfields (5-4) will visit No. 1 Sayville (9-0) on Saturday in the semifinals.
"I was so open, there was a lot of pressure to catch it," joked Zagaja, who was dragged down at the 10. It took a fourth-down sneak by George to finish the drive and put Harborfields in front 14-0.
"The safety was biting hard. I just had to make a play fake to Connor [Coyle],'' George said. "The safety came up and I threw it out there and trusted my guy to make the play."
Tornadoes coach Mike Potter also put trust in his players. "We tell our kids to speak up," Potter said, confirming Zagaja's halftime request. "We saw they were aggressive on defense. The way Coyle was running , any play action to him would bring up the safety."
Coyle was a first-half force, especially on Harborfields' signature drive of the game.
It was a classic clock-eating march that began at the 6. Coyle carried seven times for 40 yards and caught a 10-yard pass. Zagaja caught a slant for 16 yards and George completed a fourth-and-3 pass to Dylan Piscitelli for 10 yards to the 5. Coyle finished off the 14-play, 94-yard drive that took 7:23 with a 5-yard burst up the middle.
"That's Harborfields football," Potter said. "Get the tailback going and everything else works off that."
Zagaja also was on the receiving end of another big play, but this one wasn't his idea. It was a double reverse that wound up with fullback Piscitelli hitting Zagaja for a 20-yard gain. The drive didn't yield any points because Miller Place's James Nielsen made his second interception. "But it's a play the kids like to run,'' Potter said, "and it shows we're loose out there."
The Tornadoes' defense, however, was airtight all afternoon. They held Miller Place (6-3), which had beaten them 20-0 during the regular season, to 100 yards from scrimmage. Potter credited interior linemen Ben Tunick and Jack Doyle and inside linebackers Coyle and Piscitelli with playing big games.
"We trusted them to hold the fort in the middle,'' Potter said, "and that allowed us to do some things on the perimeter."
Coyle had a busy day with 27 carries, two short TD runs and several big hits. Two of them came on consecutive plays late in the first half. The Panthers, trailing 7-0, drove deep into Harborfields territory. But on third down, Coyle nailed Brett Osman after a 2-yard gain and was among those who gang-tackled Austin Yezarski on a fourth-and-5 pass completion that netted three yards.
"Our defense came to play. We clamped down when we needed to," Coyle said. "For most of the game, we were just worried about winning. But at the end, we wanted to preserve the shutout."
Consecutive sacks of Matt Hinchy (10-for-21 for 78 yards) by Bobby DeBonis and Kyle Natiello after Miller Place drove into the red zone did the trick.
Harborfields was full of them Saturday.
