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Health & Fitness

Inside The Huddle: Big Win at Bay Shore

What's going on inside the 2-0 Sachem East football locker room after upsetting Bay Shore, and looking forward to Commack.

Last Saturday we went into Bay Shore as a No. 13 seed taking on the No. 8 seed. We just came off a huge win on opening day against the 14th ranked Central Islip and we had a lot of energy and enthusiasm about taking on a top eight football team.

Unfortunately many people did not have the same belief in us that we had. All six writers for Newsday picked Bay Shore to win by double digits, and everyone around school was thrilled about our first game, but still didn’t think we had what it takes to compete with a top 10 football team.

Many people looked at our first game as a fluke, and thought that on Saturday we would be right back to our losing ways. All this talk actually offended us, and motivated us all week long during practice. Since June we have all had the idea that this season is not about just improving from last season. Last year we were 0-8, we all knew we would improve from that. But instead our goal has been to turn the program around forever. We have said from day one as seniors, that we are going to take an 0-8 program and change the entire mindset from the middle school all the way to the varsity, in order to put Sachem East back on the map as a force in Division I.

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Every single person that we currently have on the varsity roster, down to the J.V. has bought into our goal, and knows what it is going to take to change this program for the positive. That is why we all get so frustrated when we hear people doubting what we have, because we know what were capable of. What we have is not the most talented or biggest guys in Division I, but we do have a bunch of motivated, determined individuals that came together as a family closer than I have ever seen.

We are not going to beat anybody on pure skill and talent, but we will out hustle, out work and out hit teams, wearing them down until we come out on top. That is exactly what happened on Saturday in Bay Shore, we went in there with a chip on our shoulder and we simply out hit them all game long and came out with the win.

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We entered the half, down by three points, until our offense erupted and added on three second half touchdowns, giving us the 26-18 lead. It was a little scary at the end, only up 8 points with two minutes to go as Bay Shore drove all the way down into our red zone. But our defense was able to come up with one last stop and we were able to get it done.

I was really impressed with the number of people that actually did make the trip out to Bay Shore to support us. I remember clearly hearing our hometown chants scream down from the bleachers, while we were making our run in the second half. There truly isn’t a more comforting feeling then looking up into a crowd on the road and seeing a bunch of black, red, and gold. So for everyone who was in attendance last weekend at Bay Shore thank you very much, we appreciate each and every one of you, and would love to see some more at Commack, on Saturday at 2 p.m.

We have been practicing hard all week and our coaching staff has us fully prepared to take on Commack this week. It is their homecoming so we know they are going to have a packed house, but seeing some of our own fans coming out and making some noise for us Saturday would be amazing.

We are 2-0, but we are certainly not satisfied, and we will be looking to keep improving week-by-week. As a varsity player I can tell you how great it feels to finally be 2-0, but what really is making it worthwhile for us is seeing the success of our younger brothers on J.V. Yeah it feels great to say that we are 2-0, but to also be able to say for the first time in school history that our J.V. is 2-0 as well, is the best feeling in the world.

Right now as a family we are 4-0 and that’s what really matters most, like I said it’s not all about us. It’s about changing the program top to bottom and as you can see, everyone has bought into what we are trying to accomplish. 

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