Sports

Week 6, 7 and 8 Commentary

Matt Cosgrove, Mike McCarthy and Timmy Lang sound off.

Week 6

As Week 5 progressed, the term "trap-game" was used repeatedly by the coaches and players. What this meant was that the team's full focus had to be on the upcoming opponent, Northport, and not to worry about Week 6's William Floyd. Now that Sachem North routed Northport in a 28-7 victory, it was time for the Colonials of William Floyd.

"We're looking forward to it," Sachem head coach Dave Falco said. "The time has come for us to think about William Floyd." These were the words he spoke after the win over Northport. One of the main phrases used by Falco during the week was "revenge." The last time Sachem North faced off against Floyd was in the Suffolk County Championship game. The Arrows were defeated in a heart-breaking 27-6 showdown. Captain Tim Lang also added comments after the game: "It's excitement, nervousness, I just can't wait," Lang told Sachem Patch. "I can't explain the feeling. I'm looking forward to it. We've been pumped since last year for this."

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The mode in this week of practice was to keep the same consistent schedule and not change a thing. It was important that we continued the same hard practices and preparation that had been working for us all year. We had some of our best practices the whole year that week. That would only foreshadow on what was to come.

As Friday night came quicker than ever, Sachem North came out more excited than ever. Everything was clicking for the team all four quarters. Falco described the game as "One of the biggest wins in program history since the split," to Sachem Patch. As Captain Michael Andreassi spoke, he explained the feeling perfectly: "We came out tonight with something to prove," Andreassi said. "A little revenge and we got it done. It's a good feeling."

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The Sachem North football team was rolling at this point and didn't plan on stopping.

Week 7

Now comes the week we've all been waiting for, Week 7, William Floyd. This was to be the biggest game of the season (so far), and nothing could prepare us more for this game than the thought of revenge. We needed to get pay-back on them for beating us in the County Championships last season, ending our 10-game win streak. Coming off strong from the previous six weeks, we were hoping that our momentum wouldn't fail us now. And why should it? We have been a dominant force to be reckoned with and key players started to heal their injuries, making our team even stronger.

Everyone was more focused this week, even though it had more distractions than any other week so far, what with a local television station moving our game to Friday night so it could air live. All though our team was excited about playing on live television, the rest of the school was unhappy with the change, because it got rid of Friday Night Lights and the Powder Puff Football game.

But the upset students quickly got over it as they realized that the game was the main event. Also because of this change, the station sent cameramen to North and filmed some of the players in school. Another distraction we had to overcome was Spirit Week, followed up by the Pep Rally, which football is always the "main attraction" of. What added to this distraction was that it was the same day as the game! But we knew that once all of the attractions for the spectators were done with, we had to get our heads on strait and focus on the upcoming battle once again.

As stated before, everyone was more focused at practice, even those who don't see much of the playing field. The scout team prepared the starting team to the best of their abilities on both sides of the ball, and the "yellow-hats (scout)" definitely prepared them for one hell-of-a-game. Winning this game meant more than anything to us, and the whole team felt relieved and joyous when we came out of that Friday Night Game victorious. Chalk another win up, making us 7-0 with even greater momentum coming into the regular season finale at Bay Shore the following week.

Week 8

After the big win against Longwood, we all felt very accomplished due to the fact that the victory clinched the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. This meant that no matter the outcome, good or bad, we would still have the 1 seed. Like always, coming into the week losing was not an option. Bay Shore was a very good team with an explosive offense lead by RB Karl Alison. This was going to be a big challenge especially knowing that they had their backs up against the wall looking to climb up the standings in the division.

Going into this week, all the players were well prepared for a long week of practice due to the game being on a Saturday.  Coaches did another great job in making adjustments on both sides of the ball to defeat Bay Shore.

This game had a lot of meaning for both the players and the coaches. Although the win against Longwood clinched the division championship, this would mean nothing if we came out with a loss on Saturday. Also, we had another goal in mind which was to be undefeated in the regular season.  A win against Bay Shore would hold a Sachem Football record for the most consecutive regular season wins with 16.  

Going into Bay Shore on Saturday we believed that to win this game we had to be ready to play from the first whistle. It was evident on the first defensive series that this was not the case. Bay Shore drove down the field quickly and concluded their drive with a long run by Carl Alison. This was a wakeup call as we looked up to the scoreboard and it said 7-0 Bay Shore. After that, it was all Sachem as we scored 34 unanswered points. The final score was 34-7 and now our Division Championship was complete with an undefeated season.  

The celebration began and it was a great feeling for all the coaches and players knowing that this was the second straight year that we came out on top at the end of the regular season. This could not have been done if it wasn't for all the hard work that was put in by the team this past year. 

Now a whole season starts…. the playoffs.


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