Defense has been East Islip’s calling card for a long time.
So when Huntington’s offense made it down to East Islip’s 10-yard line trailing by seven points with about 40 seconds remaining, there were no signs of panic from anyone wearing red in Islip Terrace Friday night.
After an incompletion and a false start, Kristian Burnett and Evan Gordon burst through the line and wrapped up quarterback Jacob Guzik, who managed to uncork a backwards pass out of bounds for a loss of 17.
Huntington gained six yards on third down and faced a fourth-and-goal from the 26. Guzik fired over the middle to Titan Elysee, who was immediately brought down by Burnett on the 10-yard line as time expired in East Islip’s 14-7 Suffolk Division II football victory.
“I think we have about five guys that, if you block them one-on-one, they’re getting home to the quarterback,” senior lineman Dylan Bayer said. “We like to take pride in that and think that we can trust our defensive backs to guard for two seconds for us to get there.”
Bayer had nine tackles and drew plenty of attention from Huntington’s offensive line. Jovan Bonilla had two sacks and Niko Meyers added a sack.
East Islip led 7-0 late in the first half, but for a moment, it looked like the Blue Devils would even up the score. Guzik completed down the right sideline to Patrick Hassett, who had a chance for a 30-yard touchdown. East Islip safety PJ Gannon sprinted over from the middle of the field and laid a hit on Hassett, forcing a fumble at the goal line that rolled through the back of the end zone for a touchback with 29 seconds left in the half.
“I had the same exact thing last week against Smithtown East, where the kid caught it and ran, and I punched it out, but it rolled just out of bounds right before the end zone,” Gannon said. “I saw it was basically the same situation. I knew I could get to him, punched it out and it went right out the back of the end zone.”
Guzik led a 15-play, 95-yard TD drive that ended with a 1-yard TD run on fourth down by Yasir Jones to tie the score at 7 with 7:07 remaining for Huntington (3-1).
Jake Simmons made sure East Islip got the momentum back immediately. He returned the ensuing kickoff 46 yards to Huntington’s 44-yard line.
On third-and-6, Aidan Ierardi lofted a pass to Meyers, who was brought down out of bounds at the 2-yard line for a 38-yard gain. Three plays later, Simmons punched in a 1-yard TD with 3:53 left.
Simmons had 23 carries for 130 yards and two touchdowns for East Islip (4-0).
“He went in the offseason and dropped about 15 pounds. He knew we were gonna rely on him,” East Islip coach Sal J. Ciampi said. “Right now, he’s one of the top handful of players in the county.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
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